

OYSDRAKE 



THE ST(lYOFMGlESiA:HGHTlR 

THE SKlIENTHlkENTURY 




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EDWIN M.BACON 



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THE BOY'S DRAKE 



IN THE SAME SERIES 

Published by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



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Tkcemire 15-^7. ct 0fi» ntmr jiairt R^AWilmc.ie 26.umr IsSe^tis^^. 



FRANCIS DRAKE. 



THE BOY'S DRAKE 

STORY OF THE 

GREAT SEA FIGHTER OF THE 

SIXTEENTH CENTURY 



BY 

^ EDWIN M. BACON 

AUTHOR OF "the boy's HAKLDYT," 

'the CONNECTICUT RIVER AND THE VALLEY OF THE CONNECTICUT,' 

"historic PILGRIMAGES IN NEW ENGLAND," ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
1910 






^ 






Copyright, 1910, by 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



Published October, igio 




iC!,A27::5n4 



PREFACE 

This "Boy's Drake," the story of the "sea king" of the 
sixteenth century, the greatest navigator of his day, and the 
first great Enghsh admiral, whose marvellous exploits were 
largely in American waters, is offered as a fitting companion to 
the "Boy's Hakluyt." While Raleigh and Hakluyt are rightly 
given place in history as founders of the American colonies, to 
Drake might justly be accorded the distinction of the clearer 
of the way for these colonies. By his exploits along the Span- 
ish Main, and his wondrous voyage circumnavigating the 
globe, and sailing the first English ship up the Pacific coast, he 
broke the Spanish monopoly and opened the Americas to all 
Europe. Although adventure rather than discovery, reprisals 
and warfare rather than exploration, inspired his voyages, he 
made discoveries that materially changed the narrow map of 
the world in his time; and with his rediscovery of California 
he conceived the idea of a "New England" on the Pacific 
coast that would rival New Spain, and, as he thought, laid the 
foundation for it, more than forty years before the establish- 
ment of the New England on the Atlantic side of the continent. 

It is a spirited story, full of action, daring, and heroism that 
the contemporary accounts of Drake's achievements tell, and 
upon these accounts this narrative is based, passages and 
phrases being not infrequently quoted direct from the originals 



vi Preface 

to infuse it with the quaint sixteenth-century flavour. Bits of 
history are woven in sufficient to give the events of Drake's 
career the proper setting. 

Drake's succession of marvellous exploits are frankly de- 
tailed in these pages. Some of them were lawless, some were 
the acts of the buccaneer, the corsair, the sea rover; others were 
magnificent in conception and execution, the performance of 
a great naval statesman; all were dashing and brave. I have 
endeavoured so to present them that while my young readers 
are entranced with the story of his wondrous deeds, they will, 
at the same time, be impressed with the finer qualities of the 
greatest captain among Queen Elizabeth's great men. 

E. M. B. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Born to the Sea 3 

11. Parentage and Birthplace 6 

III. The Boy Skipper 14 

IV. First in American Waters 18 

V. Storming Rio de la Hacha 23 

VI. First Naval Battle 30 

VII. Reconnoitring and Buccaneering ... 46 

VIII. Raid on Nombre-de-Dios 54 

IX. Attempting Cartagena 78 

X. Roaming off the Spanish Main ... 91 

XI. Again before Cartagena 107 

XII. Off Santa Marta 118 

XIII. On the Isthmus of Panama 130 

XIV. Taking of Venta Cruz . 148 

XV. Second Raid on the Panama Road . . 159 

XVI. In Ireland 185 

XVII. Circumnavigating the Globe .... 196 



viii Contents 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XVIII. In the South Atlantic 214 

XIX. The Tragedy of Port St. Julien . . . 233 

XX. Through Magellan's Straits .... 256 

XXI. On the Pacific 265 

XXII. "Making" THE Voyage 274 

XXIII. Up THE Coast . 301 

XXIV. Taken for Gods 317 

XXV. Across the Pacific 333 

XXVI. Sir Francis Drake, Knight 358 

XXVII. Admiral 365 

XXVIII. Singeing the King of Spain's Beard . . 400 

XXIX. Fighting the Armada 428 

XXX. The Last Voyage 471 

Index 499 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Francis Drake Frontispiece <^ 



FACING PAGE 



A Galley 36 

A Pinnace of Drake's Time 56 

As given in the " Illustrious Proof " 

Town of Cartagena 86 

Plan of Cartagena 108 

Spanish Galleon 178 

An Elizabethan Great Ship or Galleon .... 182 

Fac-simile of Title-Page of "Sir Francis Drake 

Revived" 200 

Doughty's Brave Ending 248 

They took their leave by drinking each to the other 

"Some forty Englishmen were clambering into 

HIS chains and pouring over his sides" . . 296 

Chart to Illustrate Drake's Operations on the 

American Coast in 1577-78 302 

Queen Elizabeth Knighting Drake on board the 

"Golden Hind" at Deptford, April 4, 1581 , 362 



X 



Illustrations 



FACING PAGE 



Christopher Carleill, Lieut.-Gen. in Drake's 

West Indies Expedition 368 

Map of Drake's West Indies Expedition, 1585-86 . 392 

English Man-of-War about 1588 436 



The Battle with the Armada 462. 

Eight fire-ships with sails full set flaring rapidly down on 
the wind 

Sir Francis Drake 494 



THE BOY'S DRAKE 



\ 



THE BOY'S DRAKE 



BORN TO THE SEA 

FRANCIS DRAKE was a born sailor. His 
father had been a sailor, and he was kinsman of 
sailors. His childhood home was the hull of a 
ship. When yet a boy he was master of his own craft 
sailing the English Channel. At eighteen he was third 
officer of a trader to the Biscay coast of Spain. At 
twenty he was in an adventure to the African coast and 
across the Atlantic to the West Indies, among the 
earliest of English mariners to penetrate the Span- 
ish-American preserves. At twenty-two he was made 
commander of a bark in a squadron bound on a more 
adventurous expedition to Africa and thence to Spanish 
America; and he had a hand in a hot naval battle in 
the Gulf of Mexico. Five years later he was bucca- 
neering on the Spanish Main — the northern coast of 
South America along the Caribbean Sea — plundering 
Nombre-de-Dios, then the treasure-house of the West 
Indies, wherein was stored the precious metals and 
jewels brought from Peru and Mexico to Panama, for 

3 



The Boy's Drake 



shipment to Spain; crossing the Isthmus of Panama; 
getting his first sight of the Pacific from a hill-top on 
the isthmus, and devoutly beseeching God to give 
him "life and leave once to sail an English ship in 
those seas." Five years later he was making that 
voyage, sailing round the world; the first English- 
man and the second explorer to circumnavigate the 
globe. At middle-age he had become "the first great 
sailing admiral the world ever saw." 

A mariner "more skilful in all points of navigation 
than any that ever was before his time and in his time," 
as a contemporary chronicler of his deeds avers; a buc- 
caneer and a privateer of reckless daring and astonish- 
ing performance; a naval warrior resourceful and of 
extraordinary capability — his name became a terror 
to all enemies of England, open and covert, and to 
the corsairs of other nations. 

With conspicuous faults, with strange ideas of the 
honour of the seas, a plunderer in times of nominal 
peace of ships and ports, particularly in Western 
waters belonging to England's enemies, and hence his 
own, all with such startling audacity and such high 
hand as to bring upon him the sobriquet of "The 
Master Thief of the Unknown World," he became 
and remained, through varying favour of his sovereign, 
a popular idol. And so "true to his word" was he, 
so "merciful to those that were under him," though 
a strict disciplinarian, "and hating nothing so much 
as idleness"; so brave, "ever contemning danger," 
wanting "himself to be one (whoever was second) at 



Born to the Sea 



every turn where courage, skill, or industry was to be 
employed" — that he was beloved of his comrades and 
men and followed eagerly and loyally whithersoever he 
led. 

Among the great naval worthies of his period he 
rose to rank with the foremost as the Sea King of the 
Sixteenth Century. 



II 

PARENTAGE AND BIRTHPLACE 

THOUGH born to the sea, Drake's birthplace 
was a farm on an inland river. He was the 
first-born of twelve sons of yeoman parents. 
Some of his earlier biographers endeavoured to con- 
nect him with a titled family. Others presented him 
as of lowliest origin. The latter had more ground for 
their theory than the former. They took their cue 
from the phrase "mean parentage" for '' mediocre 
loco natus" in the first English edition of the An- 
nales of Queen Elizabeth's reign, originally in Latin, 
by William Camden, a learned antiquary and histo- 
rian of Drake's own time, who had the statement, 
he says, from Drake himself. But Camden clearly 
meant "middling" — the middle class. His correct 
placing is between the two extremes of upper and 
lower; he was of the higher grade of sturdy, and in 
his time growing sturdier, middle-class English. His 
immediate forebears were well-to-do country folk, who 
had lived on the same farm for generations. 

The date of his birth was also a matter of specula- 
tion by the early biographers. Some of them held 
confidently to a date about the year 1540, finding their 

6 



Parentage and Birthplace 



authority in legends upon contemporary portraits of 
Drake, and also in statements of Camden. The sifted 
evidence, however, amply sustains a date five years 
later; that is, 1545, as appears in the Annales of 
John Stow, the London antiquary, also contempo- 
rary with Drake. The legends on the portraits are 
shown to be quite untrustworthy, while the particular 
statement of Camden has proven to be erroneous, or 
a "slip of memory" on his part. So the year 1545 has 
come now to be generally accepted as the true date. 

Drake was native of the county of Devonshire, that 
nursery of brave and daring British seamen of Queen 
Elizabeth's expansive time. Several Devon boys of 
his period became world famous. There was John 
Davis, born in 1530, who became Captain John, 
searcher of the elusive north-west passage to India, 
and discoverer of Davis Strait, between Greenland 
and Baffin Land. There were the brothers Hawkins, 
William and John (the latter born 1532), kinsmen of 
Drake, who became important ship-masters and mer- 
chants; the younger. Sir John, at the head of the 
English mercantile marine in his prime, bold as a 
navigator and able as a developer of the English navy. 
From Devon, too, came Humphrey Gilbert (born 
1539), half-brother of Walter Raleigh, afterward Sir 
Humphrey, soldier, navigator, statesman, establisher 
of the first English colony in North America, at 
Newfoundland; and Richard Grenville (born 1541), 
Raleigh's cousin, afterward Sir Richard, of the "fight- 
ing Grenvilles," a naval hero of extraordinary type. 



8 The Boy's Drake 

and Sir Walter Raleigh himself, courtier, soldier, ad- 
venturer, American colonizer, historian, poet, loom- 
ing large among Queen Elizabeth's men, and at 
last brought to the block, wantonly sacrificed through 
the cowardice of her successor, King James, the first 
of the Stuarts. 

Francis's birthplace was a cottage on his grand- 
father's farm called Crowndale, near by the ancient 
Devon town of Tavistock. The farm lay in a serene 
valley with pastoral surroundings, and so sequestered 
that it "seemed shut out from all the world." In 
front of the cottage meandered the river Tavy, one 
of the exquisitely picturesque English streams. The 
cottage was permitted to remain, a decaying landmark, 
through three centuries, or till the first quarter of the 
nineteenth century, when its then owner, unmindful of 
its memories of the great sailor, pulled it down to make 
way for an ox-shed. Fortunately, a little before its 
demolition a drawing was made of it, and this was 
afterward reproduced in an etching. 

Crowndale had originally belonged l3 Tavistock 
Abbey, a Catholic monastery, which early in King 
Henry VIII's time was leased from the Abbot of 
Tavistock by Simon Drake. This Simon was an 
uncle of Francis's grandfather. There may have 
been other Drakes leasing it before Simon. At the 
dissolution of the monasteries (1536 and 1539) with 
the beginnings of the English Reformation, it passed 
into the hands of Sir John Russell, afterward Lord 
High Admiral of England (1540-42), and later first 



Parentage and Birthplace 



Earl of Bedford (1550), a great Devonshire magnate; 
and thereafter the Drakes held it from him. Francis's 
grandfather, John Drake, succeeded Simon in its oc- 
cupancy, and when Francis was born had it under a 
lease holding through the lives of himself and his 
wife Margery, and their eldest son John, Jr. 

Francis's father was Edmund, a younger son of 
John and Margery. He became early a sailor by 
trade, while his father and elder brother carried on the 
farm. When he left the sea and married he returned 
to the old home and settled down with his bride in the 
cottage which it may be his father built for him. Of 
Francis's mother there is no record. 

This quiet dwelling in the vale beside the Tavy, 
however, remained Francis's home only through his 
earliest years. He was given a good start in life with 
the advantage, counted high in those days, of a titled 
godfather. This was Lord Russell's eldest son. Sir 
Francis, the future Earl of Bedford, then a youth of 
seventeen. According to the custom of the time, young 
Sir Francis gave the boy his baptismal name. He 
was also favoured by his relation to the Hawkinses. 
Captain William Hawkins, the father of William and 
John, mariner, ship-owner, and merchant, was then a 
citizen of standing and wealth in the neighbouring port 
of Plymouth. He had been several times mayor of 
the city. He was that "Olde M. William Hawkins 
of Plimoth" whom, so the fascinating chronicler of 
English voyages of adventure and discovery, Richard 
Hakluyt, tells us. King Henry VHI highly esteemed 



10 The Boy's Drake 

for his "wisdom, valour, and skill in sea causes/* 
His father before him had served in Henry VHI's 
navy. Just what the relation was between the Drakes 
and the Hawkinses is not clear. By some of Francis's 
biographers, Edmund Drake is set down as first cousin 
to old Captain William. One ventures the guess 
that Edmund was his brother-in-law. Whatever the 
relation, the old captain's sons, boys of some thir- 
teen and fourteen when Francis was born, called him 
cousin. Like the Drakes, the Hawkinses had been of 
Tavistock for some generations, but they had resided 
in Plymouth at least since the birth of William, Jr., 
and John. 

With such patrons as the Russells, and such associ- 
ations, Francis's start would seem indeed to have been 
most auspicious. But he was born in troublous times. 
His advent was in the midst of the English revolt 
against the Church of Rome, and those closest to him 
— his patrons, his father, and his uncle Hawkins — all 
were aggressive Protestants, open advocates of the new 
religion against the old. At the very time of the boy's 
birth Edmund Drake is represented as a lay preacher 
"hot for the new opinion." Soon after, his people 
became involved in trouble and at length in persecu- 
tion, for those were the days of the martyrs, when re- 
ligious zeal was fanaticism. Protestants and Catholics 
alike then held those of the opposite faith as infidels, 
to be converted by force or through torture or destroyed 
by the sword or at the stake. Matters came to a crisis 
that overwhelmed Edmund Drake and the others in 



Parentage and Birthplace ii 

1549, during the reign of the boy king, Edward VI, 
when an order went forth for the adoption of the new 
Protestant prayer-book on Whit-Sunday. On Whit- 
suntide a Cathohc insurrection broke out in the west 
part of England and the Protestant gentry and yeo- 
men alike were fleeing for their lives, seeking hiding- 
places, some in woods and caves. Edmund Drake 
fled with the rest. 

He hastened with his little family first to Plymouth, 
apparently to get under the protection of Captain 
Hawkins and to join the Protestant groups which 
were considerable in that part. In the height of the 
tumult the mayor opened the city's gates to the insur- 
rectionists. Some of the bolder Protestants, presum- 
ably Captain Hawkins and Edmund Drake among 
them, took ground and held it for a time on the Island 
of St. Nicholas, afterward called Drake's island. 
From this shelter Edmund Drake next fled into Kent. 
And there, perhaps at Chatham, or below at Gilling- 
ham, which became the eastern head-quarters of the 
English navy, he found a permanent asylum for his 
family on a navy hulk which Lord Russell, or Captain 
Hawkins, or other friends, were able to procure for 
him. 

Thus it was, as the chronicler relates, he came to 
"inhabit in the hull of a ship"; and that in this float- 
ing home "many of his younger sons were born." 
Of Francis's eleven brothers nearly all grew up, and 
following his example took to the sea. 

Edmund Drake never returned to Tavistock, and 



12 The Boy's Drake 

with the passing of his father and brother John the 
family disappeared from that place. Thereafter, Fran- 
cis Drake, except for the time that the family home was 
on the river Medway, was associated with Plymouth. 

While the home was in the ship's hull Edmund 
Drake was employed as reader of prayers to the sea- 
men of the navy. In the Catholic Queen Mary's 
reign he was under the ban in common with other 
aggressive Protestants. Perhaps he was secretly con- 
cerned in the Protestant rising in Kent under Sir 
Thomas Wyatt, in 1554, upon the queen's announce- 
ment of her design to marry young Philip II of Spain, 
who cried that the Spaniards were coming "to con- 
quer the realm." But if so he saved his head. Though 
at this time he was wretchedly poor, he still managed 
to struggle along with his up-growing parcel of boys, 
but upon the accession of Elizabeth to the throne 
(1558) his fortune mended, and he was promoted 
from a reader of prayers to sailors to the vicarage of 
a lonely parish on the Medway, a few miles above 
Chatham comprising the ancient village of Upchurch 
— not Upnor, as Camden, with a slip of his quill, wrote, 
thus giving ground for speculation by after writers as 
to whether Edmund Drake was really a vicar, for there 
was no church at Upnor. 

In this gentle occupation the "honest mariner," 
now turned preacher, spent tranquilly the last five 
years of his kindly life. He died at the close of the 
year 1566, when Francis was twenty-one and at sea. 
He was fairly educated for his time, and devout. He 



Parentage and Birthplace 13 

was his boys' only school-master. His chief text-book 
was the Bible — the book of all books he adjured his 
youngest son, whom he made his heir, to "keep in 
bosom and feed upon." *'Make much of it," he 
wrote. "This I do send thee with all the rest of 
my godly books." 



Ill 

THE BOY SKIPPER 

iRANCIS DRAKE'S first playground was the 
river, and early he was employed upon it. At 
nine he was apprenticed by his father, "by 
reason of his poverty,'* to the master of a bark, and 
then his real sailor life began. The master was a 
veteran skipper engaged in coasting about the Eng- 
lish Channel, and sometimes in carrying merchandise 
across to France and north to Zeeland. 

It was a rough school of seamanship, this of a 
Channel coaster in those rude days. But the hardy 
boy was equal to it. He had acquired in his playtime 
a fair knowledge of river life with something of navi- 
gation, and he fell cleverly into the larger life of the 
sea. Such handiness did he display in his new call- 
ing, such spirit and diligence, that he quite won his 
master's heart. And it was not long before substantial 
reward came to him unexpectedly. In the midst of his 
apprenticeship the old skipper died, and it appeared 
that, "being a bachelor," he had bequeathed the bark 
to the boy. Thus it was that Francis became a ship- 
master in his early teens, and sailed his own ship. 

14 



The Boy Skipper 15 

Young Skipper Drake coasted and traded about the 
"narrow seas" for some time longer with profit. He 
had varied experiences and some adventure. 

For now EngHsh adventure on the seas was reviving 
under the impulse of renewed efforts to expand Eng- 
lish commerce, which hitherto, with only occasional 
breaks, had been confined to short voyages to the 
known coasts of Europe in the then little Old World 
of trade. Now English mariners backed by English 
merchants were bent upon expanding their commerce 
with the search for larger and richer markets, north, 
east, and west, in competition with their foreign rivals. 
Begun in young Edward's reign (i 547-53)? extended 
north-westward in the grim days of Mary (1553-58), 
the new movement received its real impetus with the 
incoming of Elizabeth. Soon after the start of her 
awakening reign broad-visioned statesmen and mer- 
chants of London, Bristol, and other large ports — 
"merchant adventurers" they were called — were 
boldly scheming to break into the monopoly of the 
"ocean-sea" east and west, which Portugal and 
Spain were maintaining. To be sure those nations 
yet held themselves to be protected in their monopoly 
by old papal acts, assuming jurisdiction over all the 
kingdoms of the earth. These acts were a bull of 
1444, which declared Portugal in possession of all the 
lands her mariners had then visited on the coast of 
Africa and as far east as the Indies; and the greater 
"Bulls of Partition" of 1493, issued after the discovery 
of America by Columbus, by which the world discov- 



\ 

1 6 The Boy's Drake 

ered and to be discovered was arbitrarily divided be- 
tween these two powers, all on the east of an imagi- 
nary line traced on a map from pole to pole a hundred 
degrees west of the Azores being assigned to Portugal 
and all on the west of this line to Spain. But such 
protection the Protestant merchant adventurers and 
the Protestant mariners ignored or defied. Already 
they had penetrated Portugal's preserves and their 
eyes were turning toward those of Spain. 

Hearing, perhaps, of such projects as well as stories 
of adventures accomplished, the "narrow seas" soon 
became too confined for Skipper Drake, and he longed 
for wider scope. 

Opportunity first appeared in the service, it Is sup- 
posed, of Cousin John Hawkins. This was the offer 
of the place of purser, or third officer, of a ship voy- 
aging to the Biscay coast of Spain, in all likelihood 
one of the Hawkins brothers' fleet of trading vessels. 
Doubtless Drake gladly accepted the position, and 
doubtless, too, he satisfactorily performed its duties, 
but we are only told that it was "in the year 1564," 
when he was eighteen. 

The next two years it was his good fortune to be en- 
gaged In a larger enterprise and probably as a higher 
ship's officer. This was a venture or ventures with a 
certain Captain Lovell to Guinea, on the African coast, 
and across the Atlantic to the West Indies. Of Cap- 
tain Lovell or of this enterprise there is but scant 
record. Slight as this record is, it is significant as 
disclosing the first source of Drake's particular en- 



The Boy Skipper 17 

mity to all Spaniards. It is found only in a line or 
two of the preface of an account of a famous later 
voyage of his own published by his nephew and re- 
vised by himself, simply mentioning, with no details, 
"wrongs received at Rio de [la] Hacha with Captain 
John Lovell in the years [i5]65 and [i5]66/' The 
naval historian Corbett, in his Drake and the Tudor 
Navy, suggests that Lovell was one of John Haw- 
kins's captains. If so, Drake was still in Hawkins's 
service. 

Be this as it may, in the next year, 1567, or perhaps 
immediately upon his return after experiencing those 
unnamed wrongs on the Spanish Main, he sold his 
coaster and gave himself fully to a new enterprise of 
Hawkins's, as an investor as well as a sailor, embark- 
ing in it all of his little property. This was a venture 
also to the African coast and thence, as it happened, 
to the Spanish American possessions, though origi- 
nally planned, at least ostensibly, for Africa alone — to 
obtain certain great treasure on the Portuguese gold 
coast, of which word had secretly come from some 
refugees who were to pilot the adventurers to it. In 
this enterprise he was to have command of one of the 
ships of the fleet assembled for it, for, no doubt, as the 
chronicles say, the knowledge that he had acquired 
in the Lovell voyages enabled him to be of especial 
aid to Hawkins in this greater venture. 

Now, at twenty-two, he is to have a taste of sea life 
at its fullest, and to engage in his first naval battle. 



IV 

FIRST IN AMERICAN WATERS 

THE Hawkins expedition of 1567 was really a 
negro-kidnapping and slave-trading affair. It 
was ostensibly first planned only for the Portu- 
guese gold coast of Africa, but when certain Portu- 
guese refugee pilots who were to lead the voyagers to the 
treasure on the gold coast had deserted the enterprise, 
Hawkins had got formal leave of the queen to "load 
negroes in Guinea and sell them to the West Indies." 

Thus at the start it was definitely a slave-catching 
and trajfficking venture with the sanction of the high- 
est authority of England. It must be understood, 
however, that in those days the slave-trade was by no 
means regarded by Christian folk in general as wicked. 
On the contrary, the capturing of infidel human beings 
and selling them for money was then almost univer- 
sally held to be as honourable as barter and trade in 
ordinary commodities. The African slave-trade had 
been pursued for more than a hundred years by other 
peoples before the English took a hand in it. It was 
begun by the Portuguese before the middle of the fif- 
teenth century, soon after the discoveries by their 

18 



First in American Waters 19 

navigators along the African coast. Their first mar- 
ket was found in Spain. The trade was extended to 
Spanish America in a little more than a decade follow- 
ing Columbus's discoveries. By the year 151 1 Ferdi- 
nand was permitting the importation of slaves from 
Spain to Hispaniola (Santo Domingo) in considerable 
numbers. By 15 17 the trade direct with the Portugu- 
guese settlements on the African coast had begun 
under license of Ferdinand's successor, the Emperor 
Charles V. That year this young monarch, who had 
come to the Spanish throne from the Netherlands, 
issued a patent to one of his Flemish favourites giving 
exclusive right to export four thousand negroes an- 
nually to Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and Porto Rico. 
The favourite sold his license to some Genoese mer- 
chants for twenty-five thousand ducats, and these mer- 
chants started the business. So it is upon the Geno- 
ese, not the English, that rests the bad fame of having 
first established in regular form the commerce in slaves 
between Africa and America. 

John Hawkins was the first English navigator to 
engage in this nefarious business. After the death of 
their father, old Captain William, which occurred in 
1555, he and his brother William had continued the 
trade of the house to the Atlantic coast of Africa. In 
several voyages that John made to the Canary Islands 
he had observed the prosperous slave traffic between 
Africa and the West Indies; and being assured by 
the islanders "that negroes were very good merchan- 
dise in Hispaniola and that store of negroes might 



20 The Boy's Drake 

easily be had upon the coast of Guinea," he "resolved 
with himself to make a trial thereof." 

The expedition of 1567 was his third slave-trading 
venture. The first was made in 1562-63 with three 
ships and one hundred men, and was astonishingly 
profitable to those who had invested in it, a not- 
able band of the captain's "worshipful friends of 
London." The second voyage, made in 1564-65, 
was planned on a bolder scale. Now noblemen of 
prominence joined the investors in the first one. The 
queen lent one of her ships to head the fleet, which 
comprised four vessels. The company numbered 
one hundred and seventy men — "gentlemen advent- 
urers," sailors, soldiers. A written code for the gov- 
ernment of the fleet was prepared by Hawkins, which 
included these injunctions: "Serve God daily, love 
one another, preserve your victuals, beware of fire, 
and keep good company." Considering the unholy 
object of the enterprise — the capture of human beings 
and their sale into slavery — the admonitions to "serve 
God daily" and to "love one another" sound like a 
mockery to twentieth-century ears. But here again we 
must remember that those were benighted times. It 
is difficult to believe that these slavers of three hun- 
dred and fifty years ago could have been honestly 
devout men. But so they surely felt themselves to 
be. While the holds of their ships were packed thick 
with their wretched human freight, morning and even- 
ing prayers were held upon the decks above. For 
every success of whatever nature God was praised. 



First in American Waters 21 

When the slave-ships were long becalmed at sea and at 
length a breeze came up in the nick of time to save 
them from misery, thanksgivings v^ere offered the 
Heavenly Father. "Almighty God," wrote Hawkins 
on one such occasion, "who never suffereth His elect 
to perish, sent us the ordinary breeze." Although 
more diplomacy and show of force were required in 
bartering the "freight" in the West Indies (for after 
the first voyage Spain had promulgated stricter orders 
to the colonial governors to permit no English vessel 
to trade there in future), this second venture was as 
prosperous as the first one. 

These successes brought Hawkins into such high 
favour that he was enabled easily to plan on a yet 
larger scale his third voyage, in which young Drake 
was enlisted. Meanwhile his accomplishments had 
been recognised, and the slave-trade practically en- 
dorsed, by the grant to him of a coat of arms: a 
black shield displaying a golden lion walking on 
waves, and above the lion golden coins, and for a crest 
a little black bust of a Moor in chains, "bound and 
captive," with golden amulets on his ears and arms. 

The fleet assembled for this expedition at Plymouth. 
Two ships were provided from the royal navy: the 
"Jesus of Lubec," which had been employed in the 
second voyage, and the "Minion"; the others were 
the "William and John," owned by the Hawkins 
brothers and named for them; the "Swallow"; the 
"Judith," described as a "bark," fifty tons, owned 
by John Hawkins; and the "Angel," the smallest 



22 The Boy's Drake 

craft, of only thirty-two tons. Drake had the com- 
mand of the "Judith." The complement carried was 
five hundred men. The "Jesus of Lubec" was the 
flag-ship. Hawkins was denominated "general and 
captain" of the expedition. The investment in it was 
large. The Hawkins brothers alone put in a sum 
equal to sixteen thousand pounds in English money 
of to-day, while John Hawkins's personal effects and 
"furniture" on the "Jesus" were valued at four thou- 
sand. And Drake, as we have seen, embarked all 
that he possessed. 

The six gallant ships, practically a naval squadron, 
sailed out of Plymouth harbour on the second day of 
October, 1567, in fine array, with Hawkins's promise 
to Queen Elizabeth to bring back home "a profit 
(with God's help) of forty thousand marks without of- 
fence to her friends and allies"; and with Drake, now 
twenty-two, ambitious for adventure, and "burning," 
incidentally, "to win compensation for the wrongs," 
whatever they were, "that he had suffered with Cap- 
tain Lovell at Rio de la Hacha" on the Spanish Main 
in America. 



STORMING RIO DE LA HACHA 

ONCE off the Guinea coast Drake's adventures 
began. Whenever a Portuguese ship v^as 
sighted she was given chase and overhauled. 
Somewhere between the Canaries and Cape Blanco 
the "Minion" captured a "caravel," which, being a 
"smart" new vessel, was added to the squadron, and 
Drake was transferred from the httle " Judith " to her 
command. She was the "Grace of God" by name 
and a good specimen of her class of ship. The cara- 
vel of that day is described as a fast-sailing, weath- 
erly vessel for ocean navigation. It had a single deck 
and half-deck, a square stern and forecastle, and was 
usually rigged with four masts and bowsprit, the fore- 
mast carrying two square sails and each of the others 
a lateen. When taken, the "Grace of God" was 
found in the hands of a French Protestant privateer 
or pirate, one Captain Bland, who had himself capt- 
ured her from her Portuguese master. He surren- 
dered her philosophically, and joined his fortunes to 
the expedition. 

23 



24 The Boy's Drake 

More Portuguese caravels, and all having human 
freight, were taken in the negro hunt on the rivers along 
the coast from Rio Grande to Sierra Leone, and their 
negroes shifted to the ships of the fleet. Yet by mid- 
January the whole number of slaves collected in one 
way and another amounted to scarcely one hundred 
and fifty, while the fleet's forces had become reduced 
by the loss of not a few men by sickness and poisoned 
arrows in fights in the slave hunts. In this situation, 
and since the season was advancing, it was seriously 
proposed to end the voyage at Elmina and there force 
the sale of their cargoes, both negroes and merchan- 
dise, that they had brought out. But while the matter 
was debating a native "king" at war with another 
chief sought the Englishmen's assistance in an assault 
upon a town of the rival chief. This village, he told 
them, contained some eight thousand inhabitants, and 
he promised to turn over to them all of the natives 
his fighters might capture. The offer was accepted 
and a successful assault ensued by land and sea. 
Hawkins himself headed a force of two hundred of his 
men in the land attack, and Drake may have had a 
part in the assault from the water. The result of the 
aff'air was the addition of some three hundred men, 
women, and children to the fleet's stock. The native 
"king" and his men had captured some six hundred, 
but of these none was received by the English, for 
the wily monarch, like those Arabs of whom we have 
read, quietly broke camp in the night after the assault 
and stole away, taking all his captives with him. 



Storming Rio de la Hacha 25 

However, with their own captives they now had a 
sufficient number to warrant the continuation of the 
voyage as projected. In the Rio Grande, where the 
fleet rendezvoused for the western voyage, the French 
Captain Bland was given charge of the "Grace of 
God," and Drake returned to the command of the 
"Judith." 

About two months — fifty-five days really — were con- 
sumed In the toilsome passage across to the West 
Indies. The Island of Dominica was first made, and 
here the trading began. Thence the fleet coasted 
from place to place, the Englishmen pursuing their 
traffic, but "somewhat hardly" In the face of the 
orders against all trading of English ships In Spanish 
America, which the colonial governors dared not dis- 
obey without at least a show of resistance. At Bur- 
burata, on the coast of Venezuela, they tarried two 
months, trimming and dressing the ships. In those 
days, before the coppering of ships' bottoms and 
"antl-fouling" compositions were known, vessels after 
six months of sailing in tropical waters became so 
clogged that careening — bringing a ship to lie on 
one side for cleansing, calking, or repairing — was 
absolutely necessary. Another stop of some days was 
made at the Island of Curasao, where fresh provisions 
were taken on. While tarrying here the general com- 
missioned Drake to go forward with his "Judith" and 
the "Angel" to Rio de la Hacha, probably to make a 
reconnoissance. 

This was Drake's opportunity and he grasped it 



26 The Boy's Drake 

with alacrity. And with what reckless audacity he 
executed this commission the story of his perform- 
ance at the outset discloses. 

Arriving before the little town, then a sprawling 
place of scattered, hut-like houses, he found that it 
had been re-enforced since his previous visit with 
Captain Lovell. Every approach was guarded by new 
works, and a hundred "harquebusiers" — soldiers 
armed with a form of gun known as a harquebus — 
had been added to the garrison. 

He anchored his miniature squadron in easy reach 
of the port, and was at once challenged by a fire from 
the shore batteries. As promptly he retorted in kind, 
opening fire point-blank on the town. Thus, without 
a word of explanation of his presence his reconnois- 
sance had become an assault. His first shot went 
straight through the government house. Afterward 
he withdrew his ships out of range of the batteries, and 
there they rode for five days "despite the Spaniards 
and their shot." Thus they blockaded the town. 
While they were so riding a "caravel of advice" from 
Domingo — a governmental despatch-boat — hove in 
sight, approaching the port. Instantly anchors were 
hauled in and both ships gave her chase. Soon she 
was driven ashore and then triumphantly "fetcht 
from thence in spite of two hundred Spanish harque- 
bus shot." This high-handed proceeding ended, they 
returned to their anchorage as before and continued 
the blockade till Hawkins came up with the other 
ships of the fleet, to open his trade with the town. 



Storming Rio de la Hacha 27 

It was all a lawless performance in a time of peace, 
rightly called by Drake's critics an act of piracy. 
None the less, such was the blunted morality of the 
seafarers of those rough days, his comrades saw noth- 
ing to condemn in it. Rather they held it a thing 
joyously to applaud, and gayly to boast of. Though 
he must have exceeded his orders, there is nothing to 
show that he received any censure from Hawkins. 

The performance, however, embarrassed the gen- 
eral. It shut the town tight against him as a hostile 
intruder. The governor — or treasurer, as the head 
officer here was termed — refused not only to permit 
trade, but even a landing of his men to obtain fresh 
water for the ships. Neither diplomacy nor protests 
of good intention could move the irate official. It was 
apparent that nothing could be accomplished here 
through peaceful negotiations. The way, if opened 
at all, must be opened by force. So the general pro- 
ceeded to apply the lever of force and with his cus- 
tomary vigour. 

Two hundred men were landed with "field ord- 
nance," which they planted on the shore for their 
protection. The bulwarks were assaulted and quickly 
broken through. Then the Spanish forces were 
driven "about two leagues up into the country." 
Thus the invaders "valiantly took the town." Only 
two of the English force were lost, and no hurt was 
done the Spaniards, because after they had discharged 
one volley they all fled. Once in possession of the 
place the Englishmen fostered friendly relations with 



28 The Boy's Drake 

its people, and trade was soon under way briskly, but 
conducted, however, only in the night-time with a 
show of secrecy, to save, perhaps, the governor's stand- 
ing with the home government in Spain. 

From this port the fleet continued along the coast 
westward, visiting various small settlements, where 
Hawkins in his own account says "the Spanish in- 
habitants were glad of us and traded willingly." At 
length Cartagena, the capital of the Spanish Main, 
was reached. Here they were again repulsed. The 
governor was "so straight" that no trafl&c whatsoever 
could be had without force. Since now much of their 
"merchandise" had been bartered, and the season of 
hurricanes in these parts was at hand, it was deter- 
mined to press the issue no further, but to steer for 
safer waters, and thence turn homeward. Before leav- 
ing, however, a side "demonstration" was made by 
the "Minion," which bombarded the "castle," or fort, 
while some of her men landed. These discovering 
in a cave a quantity of Malmsey wine and sack, took 
off as much of the stock as they could carry. But 
there was honour among these thieves, for they left in 
exchange some woollen and linen cloth which they 
assumed to be of equivalent value. 

From Cartagena the course was directed north. 
But the hurricanes were not escaped. Leaving Cuba 
to the eastward and thence sailing toward Florida, 
the fleet were caught in an "extreme tempest" which 
raged fiercely for four days. The ships were "most 
dangerously tossed and beaten hither and thither." 



Storming Rio de la Hacha 29 

Working into the Bahia de Ponce behind the grim 
Tortugas, a fortnight or more was spent in searching 
for a haven on the Florida coast where repairs could 
be made. But in vain, for ever3rwhere the water was 
found to be too shoal. Meanwhile a second storm 
struck them, this one lasting three days. At length 
the limping fleet were forced to cross the Gulf of Mex- 
ico, and for their succor boldly make for the haven 
of Vera Cruz — San Juan d'Ulloa, which then served 
the City of Mexico. 

Thus they sailed into new and unexpected advent- 
ures, which ended in disaster. 



VI 

FIRST NAVAL BATTLE 

THE adventurers knew they were taking great 
hazards in crossing this bay of Mexico and at- 
tempting a probably inhospitable port in their 
crippled state. It was not shipwreck they feared so 
much as encounter with enemies on the way. They 
would strike the path of Spanish armed ships in the 
voyage between Spain and Mexico, the capital of New 
Spain, and they were well aware that the command- 
ers of such craft if met would treat them as cor- 
sairs or pirates. They might be overhauled by one 
of those new Spanish galleons built for service as an 
India guard, to be employed by Pedro Menendez, 
captain-general of the West India trade, in clearing 
Spanish America of all foreign intruders. But there 
was no alternative. There was no nearer port than San 
Juan d'Ulloa where they could provision and repair 
before taking the open sea for England. There was, 
indeed, no other port on the Mexican coast. 

So they sailed, taking every precaution to guard 
against surprise. They did, indeed, fall in with 
Spanish ships, but these were small and harmless. 

30 



First Naval Battle 31 

One had on board a Spaniard of some note, Don 
Augustin de Villa Nueva, and was bound for Santo 
Domingo. Another was a wine ship with a full cargo. 
A third was a passenger ship bound for San Juan 
d'Ulloa. All carried passengers, the three having a 
total of one hundred. All were quietly captured by 
Hawkins, and taken along with him in order that they 
might be useful as hostages in negotiations he might 
have to force upon arrival at the port. Of Villa 
Nueva he made "great account," using him "like a 
nobleman." This consideration was in the end basely 
repaid by the treacherous don, as we shall see. 

San Juan d'Ulloa, reached without mishap, ap- 
peared to be, as it then was, an uninviting little haven, 
protected by a low island but a "bow shot" in length, 
about half a mile from the main-land. The town of 
Vera Cruz was not then opposite this islet, but lay 
some fifteen miles northward. The islet was the 
haven's one protection from the furious "northers" — 
the northerly gales prevalent along this coast, between 
October and March — and all ships had to be moored 
with their anchors made fast to it. The quay was on 
the landward side of the island, where it was arti- 
ficially scarped. 

As the fleet came up and rode outside, a boat was 
seen approaching from the shore. This boat con- 
tained the representatives of the royal officers of Vera 
Cruz. They were making a mistake. When sighted 
from Vera Cruz the squadron were supposed to be the 
annual flota which had been daily expected from 



32 The Boy's Drake 

Spain under the escort of royal galleons, and they had 
been sent down to receive the letters and despatches 
of the king brought out by the Spanish commander. 
They found out their mistake only when their boat 
was in the midst of the English fleet and was suddenly 
seized and they were led before Hawkins on the 
"Jesus." Great was their dismay. Hawkins's assur- 
ance that he had been forced hither by stress of weath-' 
er, and that his company's only demand was "victuals 
for their money" and opportunity to make repairs, 
somewhat " recomforted " them; still they were un- 
easy. But, since in the face of the superior English 
force they were powerless, they offered the hospital- 
ity requested with what grace they could summon. 
And, for the same reason, they gave their enforced 
guests leave to take possession of the island and set up 
some guns that were there. This privilege must have 
been reluctantly granted, for its advantage was ob- 
vious. Hawkins exacted it that he might cover his 
squadron and command the entrance to the port. Had 
he not the island in his custody the Spaniards might 
at their pleasure cut the cables of his ships, and with 
the first norther send them ashore and to destruction. 
Hearing of the expected Spanish fleet, he was bound to 
guard his own. 

So the English ships entered the Spanish haven and 
moored at the quay, while the English soldiers mounted 
the Spanish guns — seven pieces of brass — on the island. 
All of the hostages were released except two — one of 
these being Don Augustin de Villa Nueva. Then the 



First Naval Battle 33 

despatch of a messenger to the viceroy at Mexico city, 
two hundred miles off, was procured to explain how 
the English fleet came to be here as Hawkins had ex- 
plained to the Vera Cruz officials. The messenger 
was further to ask that such orders be given as would 
prevent any conflict between his fleet and the expected 
Spanish squadron. Meanwhile repairs on the ships 
were begun and diligently pursued. There were found 
in the haven twelve ships, all freighted with silver and 
gold, the year's produce of Mexico, awaiting the flota. 
All these vessels, while the English held the island, 
were in Flawkins's grasp, and he prided himself on not 
taking them. 

It was on a Thursday, the i6th of September, that 
the fleet were moored. The very next morning the 
Spanish squadron hove in sight. There were "thirteen 
great ships," two of them armed galleons: an admi- 
ral (flag-ship) and a vice-admiral. Don Francisco de 
Luxan was the commander, or general, and on board 
of the flag-ship was Don Martin Enriques, a new vice- 
roy of Mexico. 

As they came to ride off" the port, some three leagues 
seaward, Hawkins sent out an officer to advise their 
commander of the circumstances of his being here, and 
to desire the Spaniard to understand that before he 
would suffer his squadron to enter the port some order 
should pass between them for their mutual safety and 
the maintenance of peace. Luxan politely replied that 
with him was a viceroy having authority both in *'all 
this Province of Mexico," and "in the sea," and at this 



34 The Boy's Drake 

chief man's request he would ask Hawkins to forward 
his conditions. Meanwhile Enriques had sent a mes- 
senger, who apparently crossed Hawkins's, with a 
haughty request to be informed "of what country those 
ships were that rode there in the King of Spain's port ?" 
Hawkins made courteous reply that they were "the 
Queen of England's ships," and were there for "vic- 
tuals for their money, and for repairs." If the Span- 
ish general would agree peacefully to give them their 
desires they would go out on the one side of the port 
and the Spaniards should come in on the other side. 

The viceroy's answer was still haughty. He was 
a viceroy and had a thousand men, he announced, and 
therefore would come in. 

Hawkins's retort was tart: "If you be a viceroy I 
represent the queen's person and I am a viceroy as well 
as you. If you have a thousand men my powder and 
shot will take the better place!" 

With this preliminary skirmishing the viceroy came 
down from his lofty attitude. He would consider 
Hawkins's conditions — and with quite amiable assur- 
ances of the faithful performances of any or all that 
might be accepted. 

Yet the English were embarrassed. Hawkins was 
between two horns of a dilemma. Either he must 
keep the Spaniards out and subject them to wreck on 
the coast with the first norther, or suffer them to come 
in and perform some treachery, as he verily believed 
they would attempt, for he had little or no faith in 
Spanish promises. If he left them out and they were 



First Naval Battle 35 

wrecked, the loss by such disaster would be so great 
that he feared his queen's censure of his act. It was 
this reflection finally that brought him to his decision. 
He would let them in, and trust by good policy or 
stratagem to checkmate them if they played false. So 
he named his conditions, in five articles: victuals for his 
company's money; license to sell as much of their 
** wares" (they had fifty negroes yet unsold and a con- 
siderable quantity of merchandise) as would suffice to 
supply their wants; to be suffered peaceably to repair 
their ships; the island to remain in their possession 
while they stayed in the port, with the seven guns they 
had planted there; the delivery of "twelve gentlemen 
of credit" on either part as hostages. The viceroy de- 
murred particulary at the condition of leaving the island 
in the EngHshmen's hands. But to this Hawkins held 
firm. Nor would he consider any change in the other 
articles, save a reduction of the hostages to ten in num- 
ber. With this single amendment, therefore, the vice- 
roy was obliged to content himself. 

Then the articles were signed, and sealed with the 
viceroy's official seal; proclamation was made with the 
blare of trumpets; commandment was given that none 
on either side should violate or break the peace upon 
pain of death; the required number of hostages passed 
from fleet to fleet; the English and Spanish command- 
ers came together and gave each to the other the word 
of honour to abide by the agreement; the viceroy gave 
his pledge. Then the English opened the port. 

Four days had been occupied in these negotiations 



36 The Boy's Drake 

and ceremonies. On Monday evening the Spanish 
fleet came up and anchored just outside the port. The 
next morning they entered, exchanging salutes with 
the EngHsh fleet, "as the manner of the sea doth re- 
quire." All of Tuesday and of Wednesday were spent 
in berthing the ships. At first the Spaniards proceeded 
to take up berths among the English. But this Haw- 
kins would not have. The fleets must be apart, "the 
English by themselves, and the Spanish by themselves." 
Thus they were finally berthed. Such was the small- 
ness of the space available, however, that the interval 
between the two groups was only about twenty yards. 
So close ashore were the ships that their "beaknoses" 
overhung the quay; and those of each group lay "hard 
aboard " one another. Of the English group the " Min- 
ion" lay nearest the Spanish group. Next to her was 
the "Jesus." Drake's "Judith" was probably at or 
near the end of the Enghsh line. In the labor of 
placing the ships the captains and the "inferior men" 
of both fleets worked amicably side by side, and all 
seemed to promise well. 

But while all these demonstrations of "great cour- 
tesy" were making, the viceroy and the Spanish com- 
mander were perfecting a plot for "chastising the 
corsairs," as the viceroy put it. While the conditions 
were under consideration, and the Spanish fleet were 
at their first anchorage seaward, the viceroy had ordered 
a considerable force of soldiers from Vera Cruz; and 
on Monday night, as his fleet were lying just outside 
the port, he had managed secretly to get these troops 



First Naval Battle 37 

aboard his ships. When the Spaniards were finally 
moored in the port a "great hulk" — a cargo vessel — 
of some six or nine hundred tons was placed as the 
outermost vessel, next the English fleet. During the 
night of Wednesday the English found that this hulk 
had been connected with the head cable of the "Jesus" 
by a hawser. 

On Thursday morning a suspicious activity was ob- 
served on the Spanish side. There was a shifting of 
weapons from ship to ship; a cutting of ports in their 
ships to command the English vessels; the bending of 
guns toward the island; the passing to and fro of com- 
panies of men more than were seemingly required for 
the ordinary business of the fleet. Hawkins immedi- 
ately sent a messsenger to the viceroy to inquire what 
all this meant. The viceroy as promptly replied that 
he "in the faith of a viceroy" would be "their defence 
for all villanies," and would order the suspicious move- 
ments stopped. But they did not stop. Meanwhile, 
on shore some of the Spaniards were fraternizing with 
English seamen and supplying them with liquor. It 
was seen that the "great hulk" was filled with men. 
Hawkins despatched another messenger to demand of 
the viceroy that these men be instantly removed from 
the hulk. For this mission the master of the "Jesus," 
Robert Barrett, was chosen because he could speak 
Spanish. He never returned. 

The moment had arrived for the plot to be sprung. 

It was the time for dinner on the English fleet, late 
forenoon, as was the custom in those days. On board 



38 The Boy's Drake 

the "Jesus," Hawkins with his officers and the principal 
hostages had taken their seats at the table. Beside 
Hawkins sat Don Augustin de Villa Neuva, still hon- 
oured like a guest. As the repast was to begin a trusty 
attendant, one John Chamberlayne, suddenly espied a 
poniard in this gentleman's sleeve, and snatched it from 
its hiding-place. Hawkins sprang to his feet and or- 
dered Villa Neuva to be imprisoned in the steward's 
room, under guard. Almost immediately from the 
Spanish flag-ship's deck a white napkin was seen to 
flutter in Luxan's hand. It was the signal to the 
treacherous Nueva to perform his act in the plot — to 
stab Hawkins with his dagger. Another moment and 
a trumpet rang out from the Spanish flag-ship the call, 
"To arms!" 

Instantly the Spaniards were upon the English in a 
fierce assault from all sides. The soldiers from Vera 
Cruz, who had been in ambush on the main-land, were 
rushed in the Spaniards' long-boats to the island and 
there began cutting down the English guard like grass 
beneath the scythe to gain the batteries. The Spanish 
seamen ashore drew daggers upon the English sailors 
as their erstwhile boon companions ran to the cover of 
the Enghsh ships. The "great hulk" with three hun- 
dred men in her was hauled by the hawser alongside 
the " Minion," and the three hundred swarmed over her 
sides. 

In the first onslaught all the English on the island 
were slain save three, who escaped by swimming to the 
"Jesus." One of these is said to have been Drake. 



First Naval Battle 39 

A Spanish account says that he saved himself only by 
"swarming" aboard ship by a hawser. 

On the "Minion" the resistance was more effective. 
At the first suspicion of treachery that fateful morn- 
ing Hawkins had warned her captain to be on the 
alert. As the men poured out of the Spanish hulk upon 
her, Hawkins — shouting, "God and St. George upon 
those treacherous villains, and rescue the 'Minion'! 
I trust in God the day shall be ours!" — sent his force 
of the "Jesus" with a gallant rush to her defence. At 
the same time a perrier-ball shot from her set the Span- 
ish vice-admiral afire before she could get off a shot. 
The "Minion's" first shot had hit her on her broad- 
side in such wise that she began to take in water, while 
the perrier-shot, setting fire to a barrel of powder, 
finished her. Before the attack on the "Minion" could 
be renewed she had leased her headfasts, in other 
words, slipped her shore moorings, and hauled clear of 
the Spanish hulk by her sternfasts, and now opened a 
I heavy fire upon the burning vice-admiral. As she drew 
away from the hulk the latter swung aboard the " Jesus" 
and attempted to take her by boarding. But the at- 
tempt was defeated. Simultaneously two other of the 
enemy's ships assaulted the "Jesus," and there was 
hard hand-to-hand fighting on both sides. At length 
Hawkins managed to cut his headfasts and get out by his 
sternfasts. This brought him to a position again beside 
the "Minion," and about two ships' lengths from the 
Spanish fleet. Now the battle waged hotter. Within 
an hour the Spanish flag-ship was apparently sunk, the 



40 The Boy's Drake 

vice-admiral was consumed, and one other of the 
Spanish vessels was in a sinking condition. The vice- 
admiral finally blew up. 

In the engagement between the ships, therefore, the 
day was with the English. But now the batteries on the 
island in the enemy's hands opened a deadly fire upon 
them. It seemed as though the English fleet must 
soon be annihilated. Still the English fought stub- 
bornly in the face of this fire. The "Jesus" soon be- 
came "sore spoiled." The little "Angel" was sunk. 
The "Swallow" was disabled. The "Grace of God" 
had her main-mast struck overboard when her captain, 
the Frenchman Bland, was making a courageous at- 
tempt to get her to the windward of the Spanish, then 
to set her afire and send her flaming into the midst of 
them. With her main-mast gone he fired her where she 
lay, and taking to his pinnace with all his men came 
aboard the "Jesus." 

Night now approaching, and the "Jesus," her hull 
"wonderfully pierced with shot," being mortally hurt, 
with her rigging cut, it was determined to transfer 
her provisions and treasure to the "Minion" after dark, 
and abandon her. Thereupon the "Minion" was or- 
dered, "for safeguard of her masts," to be brought 
under the "Jesus'" lee. Drake also was ordered 
to bring his "Judith" up to the "Minion," and 
take aboard his ship what men and provisions he 
could out of the port. All of this Drake did. But 
before the transfer from the "Jesus" to the "Minion" 
was well under way, it was suddenly seen that the 



First Naval Battle 41 

Spanish had set two of their ships afire, and that these 
all aflame were bearing directly against them. At this 
awful sight the English seamen were thrown into a 
panic. The "Minion" now had her sails up, and with- 
out waiting for orders from captain or master her men 
started her off to flee the port. So quick was their 
action that Hawkins had barely time to swing aboard 
her from the "Jesus " as her sails began to draw. Those 
of the "Jesus'" men who could scramble into a small 
boat managed to follow and board her. The others, 
left to their fate on the abandoned ship, were "most 
cruelly slain by the Spaniards." Drake, having 
speedily warped his "Judith" clear, had got outside. 
Both had escaped the fire-ships, and once outside, 
beyond shot of the island, they were no further mo- 
lested. 

So the furious battle ended. Of the aggressors, 
all the fighting-ships were gone with more than five 
hundred of the thousand men of whom the viceroy 
had boasted. On the English side only the maimed 
"Minion" and the httle "Judith" survived, with less 
than half of the force that had entered the port. 

For that night the two battered and overloaded 
English ships rode at anchor only two bow-shots from 
what were left of the enemy's ships. A brisk wind was 
blowing, threatening a gale. When morning came 
the "Judith" had disappeared. The "Minion," thus 
alone, recovered an island a mile from the port, sup- 
posed to have been Sacrifice Island. Here she was 
struck by the dreaded norther. She rode through that 



42 The Boy's Drake 

night under the island's shelter "greatly distressed," 
for she had but two cables and two anchors left, and 
was "sore beaten" by the enemy's shot and strained 
from working her own guns. Fortunately, the next 
morning the storm was over and the weather fair, so 
that she might venture to take the sea. Then the 
wretched ship, overloaded, scant of provisions, unsea- 
worthy, again set sail, bound indefinitely for some place 
where repairs could be made, then for home. 

The details of her progress : how after fourteen days 
of wandering they were forced by hunger to land at a 
point near the bottom of the bay; how here the two 
hundred men crowding her were " indiflFerently parted, 
one hundred on the one side and one hundred on the 
other," and one of these lots left ashore with what pro- 
visions could be spared and Hawkins's promise, if the 
ship ever reached home, to come or send for them or 
their survivors; the record of the adventures of the sur- 
vivors, their wanderings, sufferings, miseries; the nar- 
rative of the further voyage of the forlorn "Minion," 
its hardships and trials, and her final bringing up in an 
English haven nearly four months after the departure 
for Sacrifice Island — all this is another and a thrilling 
story, in which our hero does not figure. 

Drake with his "Judith," reaching home only five 
days before the "Minion," appeared in Plymouth 
Sound on the evening of January 20, 1569. Ignorant 
of the fate of the "Minion" after he had parted from 
her on the night following the battle, he believed that 
she was lost. He was severely blamed for what was 



First Naval Battle 43 

called his desertion of her that night. Hawkins, in his 
official report, remarked upon it in a terse sentence dis- 
closing his feeling — "which bark [the "Judith"] the 
same night forsook us in our great misery," — and re- 
frained from further mention of this ship or Drake. Ac- 
cusations against him were pending when an official in- 
quiry into the San Juan d'UUoa affair was opened by the 
lord admiral; but he did not appear, if summoned, for 
he was then conveniently, as his critics would say, away 
at sea again. The evidence of history, however, is that 
he was blameless. Instead of dehberately leaving his 
comrade ship in the lurch, he was evidently parted from 
her by the gale and obliged immediately to put to 
sea for the safety of his overtaxed vessel, crowded with 
the men he had taken off the "Minion." Since home 
was now the only safe port, he made for England as 
direct and as speedily as he could. Indeed, his bravery 
and loyalty should not be questioned; while his skilful 
seamanship in navigating his overloaded ship across the 
seas and at last bringing her safely to port at Plymouth 
is deserving of high praise. 

Drake came out of this adventure, as has been said, 
with the loss of all that he had embarked. Hawkins's 
losses were heavier only because his interests were 
larger. Much of the treasure of the "Jesus of Lubec" 
must have been transferred to the "Minion" in the 
hurried work before the Spanish fire-ships bore down 
upon them, for, according to the Spanish reports, the 
only things of value found upon the derelict "Jesus" 
after the battle were the general's silver cabin service, 



44 The Boy's Drake 

some bales of cloth, and fifty negroes. Doubtless the 
negroes were at once taken into slavery by the Span- 
iards. On the abandoned "Jesus" were also found the 
Spanish hostages. "Not a hair of their heads had been 
touched, and they had nothing but praises of their 
gentle treatment" by the English. In marked con- 
trast was the treatment that the English hostages re- 
ceived at the hands of the Spaniards. They were held 
prisoners by the viceroy in Mexico for four months. 
Then they were sent to Spain, and there one of the Eng- 
lish narrators had "heard it credibly reported, many 
of them died with the cruel handling of the Spanish in 
the Inquisition house." The survivors were finally de- 
livered to their homes in England. 

The viceroy's explanation of his treachery at San 
Juan d'Ulloa was lamentably weak. He believed, he 
said, that Hawkins meant to break his word and fire 
the Spanish fleet. There appeared no ground what- 
ever for such belief, if he honestly entertained it. All 
accounts agree as to Hawkins's faithfulness to the 
agreement. 

The battle was one of the bravest fought. In all 
the naval annals of England, as the historian Corbett 
testifies, it has been "rarely surpassed as an heroic 
and successful defence against a treacherous surprise." 
The Spaniards fought as bravely; their discomfiture 
came through the greater weight of metal that the 
English ships possessed. 

Their experience in this affair of San Juan d'Ulloa 
made both Hawkins and Drake ever after the implac- 



First Naval Battle 45 

able enemies of Spain and of all Spaniards. Drake 
was the more impatient for revenge and reprisal, and 
his active mind shortly became busied with the con- 
coction of a new venture of his own. 



VII 
RECONNOITRING AND BUCCANEERING 

UPON his landing at Plymouth Drake was met 
by Hawkins's brother William, eager for news. 
When the "Judith " was seen coming into Plym- 
outh Sound alone William Hawkins was prepared for 
ill-tidings, for a rumour of disaster to the expedition 
had preceded Drake by some days. This rumour 
was conveyed by way of Spain in a letter from one of 
the correspondents there of Bernardino Spinola, a great 
Italian banker, then of London, supposed to have been 
a private investor in the Hawkins enterprise. It was a 
report current in Seville that Hawkins, having landed 
somewhere in Spanish America and gone into the in- 
terior to make his trade, had been led into ambush and 
he and all his men massacred. Drake gave the true story 
in a hurried account of the San Juan d'Ulloa affair, 
while the men who had crowded the little "Judith" 
held the welcoming folk ashore spellbound with their 
stories. Immediately upon receiving Drake's report 
William Hawkins sat down and wrote a statement to 
William Cecil, the Secretary of State, and to the Privy 
Council, ending with an earnest appeal to the govern- 

46 



Reconnoitring and Buccaneering 47 

ment for the grant of a commission of reprisals upon 
Spain for his brother's and his own wrongs, as a part- 
ner with him. And before that first night had passed 
Drake was speeding off with these letters for London. 

Thus he was brought to the attention of Cecil, then 
the foremost minister of the crown. With the execu- 
tion of his mission he doubtless repeated his story and 
put in a stout word for himself. England was now 
on the verge of open war with Spain, and the news of 
the San Juan d'Ulloa affair served to fan the flame 
against Philip. But neither sovereign was ready to cast 
the gauntlet. Each was "willing to wound," and se- 
cretly to injure the other, and was doing so; but neither 
was prepared, though each may have dared, to strike. 
So the petitions of the Hawkinses, John joining that of 
his brother upon his arrival home, for redress through 
reprisals, if compensation for their losses could not 
otherwise be promptly obtained, were held up. 

Meanwhile Drake took temporary service in the 
queen's navy. Early in the spring (1569) following his 
return he seems to have become master of one of the 
queen's ships. The naval historian Corbett suggests 
that in this service he may have sought refuge from 
the accusations against him of desertion of Hawkins 
and the "Minion." As to this, however, his other 
biographers are silent. They generally glide over this 
year. One remarks vaguely on naval service by him 
as covering "some time" and as being to his "great ad- 
vantage." As to the accusations of desertion of Haw- 
kins and the "Minion," they were not repeated at the 



48 The Boy's Drake 

official inquiry by the lord admiral into the San Juan 
d'Ulloa affair. And it is reasonable to assume that his 
explanation of his act was satisfactory to Hawkins, for 
both the brothers Hawkins are soon found again in 
friendly relations with him. Corbett ventures that 
part of his naval service was as captain of one of the 
guard — seven large war-ships — of the wool fleet to 
Hamburg, which sailed in April and returned early in 
June. At all accounts, he was ashore and at home in 
Devon early in July, for on the fourth day of that sunny 
month he was married to a Devonshire lass, one Mary 
Newman, at St. Budeaux, on the Tavy. If he were 
with the wool-fleet guard his courtship of his sweetheart 
must indeed have been, as Corbett says, a real sailor's 
courtship for brevity. The honey-moon, too, was short, 
for he was soon again aboard ship, or away making 
preparations for another voyage to the Spanish Indies. 
Now his own plan of campaign, formulating in his 
busy brain through this year, against the Spaniards 
for compensation for his losses, was ripening fast. Sat- 
isfied that no amends could be had, at least imme- 
diately, from the Spanish Government in the ordinary 
ways, through diplomacy or through letters of the queen, 
he was now boldly to take the matter in his own hands 
and recoup himself out of the riches of Spanish America. 
It was a lawless plan and piratical, but to his mind 
justifiable. Moreover, it had the endorsement of an 
honest cleric. A navy chaplain, perhaps the chaplain 
on his ship of the wool-fleet guard, had "comforted" 
him with the assurance that "having been thus treach- 



Reconnoitring and Buccaneering 49 

erously used by the Spaniards he might lawfully re- 
cover in value of the King of Spain and repair his losses 
upon him [the king] wherever he could." In other 
words, that it was legal and honourable for an injured 
individual to take the law into his own hands and exact 
reprisals from a whole nation for hurts suffered through 
the treacherous acts of a single part of that nation not 
in a time of war; to rob and pillage those who had done 
him no wrong in compensation for injuries from others, 
because they were of the same nationality. Further, 
in the eyes of this Christian minister, it was right mor- 
ally when the people upon whom the reprisals were to 
be made were of one religion and the injured individual 
of another. It was a strange doctrine for a godly man 
of whatever creed to preach. Yet it was very "taking," 
we are told, in England in that rude day three centuries 
and more back. Good Protestant bishops were coun- 
selling that "to prey upon Catholics was pleasing to the 
Lord." It was the "sea divinity" of the time in which 
Drake and his contemporary Protestant seafarers had 
been reared; and no sooner had he made his design 
known than volunteers, with no such pretence as he 
had for this action, flocked with ardour to join him. 

His plan was first to make a reconnoitring voyage 
further to acquaint himself with the Spanish-American 
coast, and to ascertain the state of the Spanish settle- 
ments. Accordingly, early in the new year, 1570, he 
quietly set out from Plymouth upon this adventure, 
two little ships, the "Dragon" and the "Swan," com- 
prising his "fleet." It was given the colour of a trad- 



50 The Boy's Drake 

ing voyage. A number of merchants, statesmen, and 
naval officers were presumably interested with him; 
or perhaps, as Corbett suggests, he was acting for them 
to obtain intelligence of the colonies that might be 
useful in case of actual war. The expedition was pre- 
pared under the eyes of Wilham Hawkins; and it is 
not an unreasonable assumption that both the brothers 
Hawkins were friendly to it if not secretly concerned 
in it. 

The only known account of this voyage is in man- 
uscript and of Spanish origin. Though coloured to 
suit its particular market and probably exaggerated, 
it shows clearly enough that buccaneering was freely 
and profitably indulged along with the soberer work 
of reconnoitring. The manuscript has this taking title, 
"A summary relation of the harms and robberies done 
by Fr. Drake an Englishman with the assistance and 
help of other Englishmen." And thus its translation, 
in part, runs: "In the year 1570 he went to the Indies 
in a bark of forty tons with whom there went an English 
merchant called Richard Dennys and others, and upon 
the coast of Nombre-de-Dios they did rob divers barks 
in the river Chagres that were transporting merchan- 
dise of forty thousand ducats of velvets and taffetas 
beside other merchandise, besides gold and silver in 
other barks, and with the same came [returned] to 
Plymouth where it was divided amongst his partners." 

To reconnoitre about Nombre-de-Dios was Drake's 
chief aim. For this old Spanish town on the north- 
west of the Isthmus of Darien was at that time the store- 



Reconnoitring and Buccaneering 51 

house of the harvest of gold, silver, and gems brought 
from Peru and Mexico to Panama, and thence across 
the isthmus, where the precious crop was held to be 
shipped annually in the treasure-ships to Spain. He 
found the place, as well as the long coast of the Spanish 
Main, generally with slight defence, and saw that clev- 
erly surprised and attacked it would fall an easy prey. 
With this information, and after bartering his goods 
at Capo de la Vela, the port of ancient Coro, Venezuela, 
opposite the island of Curasao, and at Jamaica, he 
returned home. 

A second voyage for further reconnoitring was im- 
mediately projected, and Drake was off upon it the 
next spring (157 1). This was apparently a venture on 
his personal account, equipped from the proceeds of 
the former one, and with buccaneering quite as much 
in view as reconnoitring. Only one ship was em- 
ployed — the little "Swan" of the first voyage. 

Little is recorded of this expedition beyond the illu- 
minating statement that several prizes were taken, and 
the word of one of Drake's most devoted men, Thomas 
Moone, ship's carpenter, that it was ''rich and gainful." 
A Spanish reference is made to it in the complaint that 
Drake "cut out" (that is, carried off) a ship of one hun- 
dred and eighty tons from the harbour of Cartagena. 
There is a legend that he actually went ashore at 
Nombre-de-Dios, disguised as a Spaniard, and famil- 
iarised himself with the topography of the town. He dis- 
covered hidden in the recesses of the Gulf of Darien, 
along the line of the treasure-ships bound for Spain, yet 



52 The Boy's Drake 

remote from it, a romantic harbour, an ideal "pirate's 
lair," and here established a base for his future opera- 
tions. It was a safe haven in all weathers, a fine, deep, 
round bay lying between two high points, eight or ten 
cables' length either way, with a narrow mouth secluded 
in a wealth of tropical growths. Drake named it " Port 
Pheasant," because of the "great store of those goodly 
fowls" upon which he and his men feasted luxuriously. 
Good fish also abounded in the little bay. The place has 
been identified as the "Puerto Escondito," or "Secret 
Harbour," of the Spaniards, lying some twelve miles to 
the southwest of the modern Caledonian Bay, a hun- 
dred miles from Santiago de Tulu at the east, and about 
the same distance from Nombre-de-Dios westward. 
To this snug harbour Drake brought his prisoners taken 
with the prizes; and from it he made secret excursions 
along the coast to ascertain the manner of transporting 
the treasure across the isthmus. Thus he learned how 
it was brought from Peru and Mexico by ships to 
Panama; how thence carried in chests and goat-skins 
by mule-trains overland, or by water from Venta Cruz, 
the modern Cruces, on the Chagres River, to Nombre- 
de-Dios; how all the way it was protected by military 
guards captained by some of the best soldiers of Spain. 

His reconnoissance completed, he liberated his pris- 
oners, buried a quantity of stores in his lair against his 
next coming, and turned homeward, his Httle "Swan" 
loaded with plunder he had taken. 

Now having got all the "notice of the persons and 
places aimed at" that he desired, he was fully prepared 



Reconnoitring and Buccaneering 53 

for the second and decisive step in his bold scheme. 
An astonishing voyage promptly follov^ed, in which 
his remarkable qualities v^ere to be brilliantly and au- 
daciously displayed, and which was to startle Spain 
and to lay the foundation of his fame and fortune. 



VIII 
RAID ON NOMBRE-DE-DIOS 

DRAKE assembled his forces for this piratical 
venture in the early months of the new year 
(1572), without hinderance from the govern- 
ment, despite his suspected hostile intent. To the Span- 
ish complaints of his two previous voyages the reply had 
invariably been that he was a private adventurer for 
whose actions the government was not responsible. The 
same attitude of irresponsibility was assumed toward 
this more threatening expedition. Though its object was 
veiled the Spanish spies in England had little doubt of 
its real nature, and they strongly suspected that high 
government officials were sanctioning it. In Spain it 
was believed that the queen herself was a subscriber to 
the project. There was little or no authority for this be- 
Hef, yet the government's attitude gave colour to it. 
Upon stronger grounds rested the suspicion of official 
sanction. From contemporary manuscripts is quoted 
the statement that Sir William Wynter of the navy 
was one of Drake's partners. Another named was 
John Hawkins. 

The explanation of this official favour toward the 
undertaking, or tolerance of it, is found in the political 

54 



Raid on Nombre-de-Dios 55 

situation at the moment. The strain between Eng- 
land and Spain had become so tense that war seemed 
now close at hand, strenuous though the queen still was 
to avoid an open rupture. Already both nations had 
committed overt acts that, in modern days, would have 
meant actual war. Protestant and Catholic were ar- 
rayed against each other with increasing bitterness. 
The bull of Pope Pius V excommunicating Elizabeth 
and absolving her Catholic subjects from their alle- 
giance, secretly issued in 1569 and published the next 
year, had been followed by severe laws against the 
Catholics in England. A Catholic rising was looked 
for any day. In Spain, as the pope's zealous agent, 
the Protestants saw the inflamer of a Catholic crusade 
for the destruction of the "heretic" queen and the 
annihilation of Protestantism. 

And Drake was not alone among Protestant mariners 
making for Spain during this spring of 1572. Scorn- 
ing the threats of Philip against Protestants or other 
foreigners visiting his seas, scores of others were sailing 
or making ready to sail while Drake was hurrying his 
preparations forward. Two of his associates, or cap- 
tains supposed to have been his associates, in the San 
Juan d'Ulloa affair, had already sailed. One was Cap- 
tain James Rouse, assumed to be the same who had 
been master of the "William and John" that was lost 
in that battle. He was sent out on his present venture 
by Sir Edward Horsey, then governor of the Isle of 
Wight. Another, sailing from Plymouth, was Captain 
John Garrett, supposed to have been the master of the 



56 The Boy's Drake 

*' Minion," the survivor, with Drake's "Judith," of San 
Juan d'Ulloa. With both of these captains went some 
of Drake's sailors who were on his second reconnoitring 
voyage. In this same spring also an unusual number 
of Huguenot "sea-dogs," half-privateers, half-traders, 
were sailing from French ports for the same waters. 
The Huguenot corsairs were now taking advantage of 
Spain's occupation with affairs in Europe which had 
left her ocean commerce and her American possessions 
unprotected. From Havre alone some twenty sail had 
already set out for Guinea and the West Indies. One 
of these French captains Drake was to meet and to take 
into partnership in a daring operation that followed 
the Nombre-de-Dios raid, and the chivalrous French- 
man was to lose his life in the affair, as told farther on. 

The squadron which Drake assembled for this voy- 
age, destined to become famous, comprised, like that 
which made his first reconnoitring voyage, two small 
ships only, but these were set up like men-of-war. 
Both were equipped with all kinds of fire-arms and 
artificers' stuff and tools carried by the best-furnished 
naval vessels of the time. Three "dainty" pinnaces 
(small oared vessels, larger than a ship's boat, and 
carrying a single sail) were cleverly made in parts and 
stored aboard the ships, to be set up on the arrival 
out, "as occasion served." The two ships were the 
"Pascha," a stanch craft of seventy tons, and again 
the " Swan," which was of twenty tons. The " Pascha " 
was designated the "admiral," or flag-ship; the "Swan" 
the "vice-admiral." The latter was captained by one of 



Raid on Nombre-de-Dios 57 

Drake's brothers, John Drake. Another, and younger 
brother, Joseph, was one of the flag-ship's crew. The 
company numbered in all seventy-three men and boys. 
They were all volunteers, and all lusty young fellows 
under thirty, save one, who was fifty. Drake himself 
was twenty-seven. 

It was on Whitsunday eve, the 24th of May (1572), 
that the warlike little fleet sailed out from Plymouth 
Sound, "with intent," fully understood by all con- 
cerned in the venture, "to land at Nombre-de-Dios." 
The start v/as auspicious with a merry wind, and, the 
breezes favouring them throughout the run across the 
Atlantic by the then usual route, they made the outer 
West Indies in twenty-five days without striking a sail. 
Or, as opens the official narrative revised by Drake 
(which shall in the main tell the story here in its quaint 
old English, with a tangled sentence now and then 
straightened out, and an explanatory word along the 
way as to places, things, or peoples alluded to): "The 
wind continued prosperous and favourable at North 
east, and gave us a very good passage without any 
alteration or change: so that albeit we had sight of 
Porto Santo one of the Mad^ras [June 3] & of the 
Canaries also within twelve dayes of our setting forth: 
yet we never strook [struck] sayle, nor came to anchor, 
nor made any stay for any cause, neither there or else 
where, untill 25 dayes after; When we had sight 
[June 28] of the Island of Guadalupe, one of the 
Islands of the West Indies goodly high land." 

The next morning they entered the channel between 



58 The Boy's Drake 

Guadalupe and Dominica, and here were espied two 
canoes coming from a "rocky Island three leagues 
[nine miles] off Dominica." The canoes were found 
to contain Indian fishermen, and the island proved to 
be a summer fishing place of the Dominican natives. 
Inviting it evidently appeared to our voyagers as they 
approached and viewed it, for they decided to stop 
here a bit and refresh themselves, and also water their 
ships "out of one of those goodly rivers which fall down 
off the mountain." Accordingly, the ships were anchored 
off it, and a landing made. Some "poore cottages" built 
of palmetto boughs and branches were found scattered 
over the isle, but no inhabitants, "civill or savage," 
were seen. Since they "could know no certaine 
cause of the solitarinesse," the voyagers surmised that 
these huts were temporary houses for the Dominican 
fishers during the fishing seasons. 

Three days were agreeably spent here, and then, on 
the first of July, they again set sail, not again to anchor 
till they reached the secret harbour of "Port Pheas- 
ant," in the Gulf of Darien, the lair which Drake had 
discovered on his previous voyage and prepared as a 
base for his operations, as related in the preceding 
chapter. On the fifth day out (July 6), they had "sight 
of the high land of Santa Martha" — the Sierra Nevada 
lying behind Santa Marta, Colombia, on the Spanish 
Main — as they passed off at sea. They finally sailed 
into the Gulf of Darien, and on July 12, having had 
two days of calm, arrived off Port Pheasant unper- 
ceived by any Spaniards. 



Raid on Nombre-de-Dios 59 

Here, a hundred miles east of Nombre-de-Dios, and 
that distance from any Spanish settlement east or west, 
Drake felt secure, and, leaving the squadron in charge 
of his brother, Captain John Drake, made for the shore 
in his ship's boat, unarmed, and with only a few com- 
panions. But as they were rowing toward the shore 
they were startled at the sight of smoke rising above the 
thick growths that shrouded it. Suspecting that some 
sea-rovers, if not the Spaniards, had discovered the 
place, Drake returned for the other ship's boat, and 
causing this to be "manned with certain muskets and 
weapons," boldly set off again to turn out the intruders, 
whoever they might be. Cautiously landing, he could 
see no one. So fruitful was the soil that since Drake's 
visit of the year before all the paths and "alleys" that 
his men had then cleared were overgrown with a tan- 
gle of bush, vine, and grass. Pushing still cautiously 
through the tangle the party came upon a "mighty 
great tree, greater than any four men joining hands 
could fathom about," and nailed fast to this tree was 
a "plate of lead" upon which they read this inscrip- 
tion, roughly traced: 

^'Captain Drake, if you fortune to come to this Port, 
make hast away; For the Spanyards which you had 
with you here the last year, have bewrayed this place 
and taken away all that you left here. I departed 
from thence this present 7, of Inly 1572. 
Your very loving friend, 

loHN Garrett." 



6o The Boy's Drake 

This was the Captain Garrett who had sailed from 
Plymouth some days before Drake, having in his crew 
several men of Drake's former crew, and these men 
had discovered the lair to him. The rising smoke 
came from a smouldering fire which Garrett and his 
men had made before their departure, only four days 
back, in another great tree near by that upon which the 
warning had been posted. 

It was disturbing, to be sure, to find that his secret 
base of operations had been betrayed to the enemy by 
the prisoners he had so generously released, and that 
it had been plundered. But Drake had no thought of 
making "hast away," at least till the work he had 
planned to have done here should be accomplished. 
Accordingly he set his men about this work just as 
though his secret had not been disclosed, and no warn- 
ing received. So soon as the ships were moored he 
ordered the pinnaces in parts to be brought ashore, and 
the carpenters to begin putting them together, while 
he and the others started the building of a fort for 
their protection. This fort, enclosing a plot of three- 
quarters of an acre, was quite an affair. Its construc- 
tion was "performed," as the narrative describes, "by 
felling of great trees and bowsing [pulling hard, all to- 
gether] and haling [dragging] them together with great 
Pullers [pulleys] and halsers [hawsers] untill they were 
inclosed to the waters; and then letting others fall 
upon them, untill they had raised with trees and boughs 
thirty foot in height round about, leaving only one 
gate to issue at neer the waters side." Every night. 



Raid on Nombre-de-Dios 6i 

"that we might sleepe in more safety and security," 
this gate was closed by a great tree drawn athwart 
it. The whole plot was built in pentagonal form, 
''to wit J of five equall sides and angles, of which angles 
two were towards the sea, and that side between them 
was left open for the easie launcing of our Pinnaces: 
the other four equel sides were cholely [closely] (ex- 
cepting the gate before mentioned) firmly closed up. 
Without, instead of a trench, the ground was rid 
[cleared] for fifty foot space, round about." The 
background was thick with trees. 

The very next day (July 13), after their arrival here 
the company had another surprise when a ship was 
seen sailing into the fastness. This, however, was a 
friendly craft. It was the English bark captained by 
James Rouse, and including in her crew others of 
Drake's former men. In tow were two other ships, 
one a Spanish caravel of Seville, "being a Carvell of 
Adviso" (a despatch-boat), bound for Nombre-de- 
Dios, which Captain Rouse had captured the day 
before, and a "shallop with oares," a Spanish boat 
equivalent to the English pinnace, which he had taken 
off Cape Blanco to the eastward. 

Upon learning Drake's purpose boldly to raid Nom- 
bre-de-Dios at a time when the treasure-houses were 
supposed to be well filled. Captain Rouse expressed 
an ardent desire to join hands with him, and Drake 
being willing, the two struck a bargain of partnership. 

Within a week's time the three pinnaces were full 
set up and launched, each with a name formally be- 



62 The Boy's Drake 

stowed by Drake (the "Minion," the "Eion," the 
"Lyon"), and all was in readiness for the hostile move. 
Then early in the morning of July 20, the seventh day 
after Drake's arrival at the lair, the combined com- 
panies stole out and turned their ships' prows toward 
Nombre-de-Dios. 

Sailing north-westward along the Darien coast, in 
three days they had reached a cluster of fir-clad isles, 
lying westward of the mouth of the Gulf of Darien, 
and called from their covering of fir-trees the Islas de 
Pinos, or Pine Islands, and here another — a third — 
surprise awaited Drake. Lying at the island port were 
found two Spanish "Fregats" (frigates, ships devel- 
oped from the fregata, a Mediterranean type of "gal- 
ley," having at this time three masts and two decks). 
These belonged to Nombre-de-Dios, and were lading 
at the isles with plank and timber. They were manned 
by negro slaves, whom Drake promptly seized. The 
surprise was in a report which these men gave him as 
to the situation in Nombre-de-Dios. Says the narra- 
tor: "The negroes which were in those Fregates gave 
us som particular understanding of the present state of 
the Town: and besides told us that they had heard 
a report that certain Souldiers should come thither 
shortly, & were daily looked for, from the Governour of 
Panama, and the Countrey thereabouts, to defend the 
Town against the Simerons [Cimaroons] (a black Peo- 
ple, which about eighty years past [about 15 12] fled 
from the Spaniards their Masters, by reason of their 
cruelty, and are since groune to a Nation, under two 



Raid on Nombre-de-DIos 63 

Kings of their own: the one inhabiteth to the West, 
th' other to the East of the Way from Nombre de Dios 
to Panama) who had neer surprised it [Nombre-de- 
Dios] about six weeks before." 

These Cimaroons — hill men — 01 "Maroons," as the 
English sailors came to call them, were really descend- 
ants of the original band of escaped negro slaves and the 
native Indian women whom they had married when 
they had established themselves in the hill and forest 
on either, side of the Panama road. They were become 
a bold and powerful race, and a terror to the Spanish 
settlements in their region. They were shrewd and 
clever warriors, as we shall see further along in the 
story of this voyage, for they became allies of Drake 
and made possible his feats that followed the Nombre- 
de-Dios affair. 

This news of troops on the march from Panama 
was a more disturbing surprise than the first one that 
met him, for he had calculated upon the weakness of 
Nombre-de-Dios and its garrison for success in his 
raid. But, as at Port Pheasant, what he heard only 
served to hasten his action. The thing now to be 
done was to press forward and get to his goal ahead 
of the Panama soldiers if possible; if not, to take the 
place unawares. And this he instantly resolved to do. 

First he must dispose of his negro informants. He 
must win their friendliness; and he must prevent them 
from getting to Nombre-de-Dios before him and warn- 
ing the place. "He was loath," as the narrator says 
facetiously, "to put the Towne to too much charge 



64 The Boy's Drake 

(which he knew they would wilHngly bestow) in pro- 
viding beforehand for his entertainment." So he pro- 
posed to help these negroes to liberty. He would put 
them ashore on the main that they might join the 
Cimaroons if they would. If they would not thus gain 
freedom, but should return to Nombre-de-Dios, such 
was the length and "troublesomenesse" of the way by 
land they could not reach the town so soon as he could 
by water. This done, he hastened his own going "with 
as much speed and secrecy as possibly he could." 

The three ships and the prize caravel were to be left 
at the Pine Islands, and the assault was to be made 
with the three pinnaces and Rouse's captured shallop. 
Captain Rouse was to stay behind in charge of the 
ships. Seventy-three picked men were chosen by Drake 
to accompany him: fifty-three from his own company 
and twenty from Captain Rouse's. The arms taken 
on comprised "six Targets, six Firepikes, twelve 
Pikes, twenty-four Muskets and Callivers [calivers; 
small hand guns], sixteen Bowes [with arrows], and 
six Partizans [partisan; a sort of halberd]"; and there 
were two drums and two trumpets. With this little 
force and these arms the intrepid captain was con- 
sidered "competently furnished to achieve what he 
intended." The narrator was one of this party, and 
presumably in Drake's boat, so the story continues 
that of a participator in all that followed. 

They set sail on July 23, and in five days without 
incident they had made the "Island of Cativaas" 
(Catives), off the mouth of the Rio Francisco, a stream 



Raid on Nombre-de-Dios 65 

entering the sea some twenty-five miles eastward of 
Nombre-de-Dios. Here they landed "all in the morn- 
ing betimes/' and Drake carefully drilled the force in 
military fashion, and prepared them for what was be- 
fore them with a frank little speech in which he "de- 
clared the greatnesse of the hope of good things that 
were there." 

Off again that afternoon, before sunset, they had 
come to the river's mouth. Thence Drake led "hard 
aboard the shore, that we might not be descried of the 
Watch house " on the point of the bay of Nombre-de- 
Dios. When within six miles of this point he caused 
all to "strike a hull" (haul in sails) and cast their 
"grappers" (grappling irons); so to ride till night. 
With the fall of darkness they weighed again, and now 
rowing, close against the shore, silently as possible, 
they reached the point. And here under protecting 
highlands they rested "all silent, purposing to attempt 
the towne in the dawning of the day." 

Nombre-de-Dios, one of the oldest Spanish settle- 
ments on the Spanish Main, had been established in 
1519, a year after Panama. It was the second Spanish- 
American town of the name in this quarter, and suc- 
ceeded the first one, founded in 15 10, near Porto Bello 
on the isthmus, but early abandoned. The pious name 
came from the declaration of the founder, Diego di 
Niquezan, or Nicuesa, a Spanish commander, upon first 
setting foot on the shore. "Here," said he, "we will 
found a settlement in the name of God." At its best 
the second Nombre-de-Dios was a poor place, ill- 



66 The Boy's Drake 

favoured in situation and unwholesome. Although 
estabhshed to be the northern "emporium" of the 
commerce of Peru across the isthmus, and of Mexico, 
then "New Spain," and the central port for the treas- 
ure and merchandise ships to and from Spain, the 
permanent inhabitants were always few in number and 
obscure. The merchants engaged in the trade of the 
port generally resided in Panama, and only once a 
year, when the treasure fleet were here to take on their 
rich cargoes for Spain, was the place busy and ani- 
mated. Then many came hither from Panama, Car- 
tagena, and other settlements on the main, merchants, 
traders, soldiers, adventurers, and a fair was held in 
the plaza or market-place. With the departure of the 
fleet the temporary dwellers hastened back to pleas- 
anter places, "forsaking it because it is so full of dis- 
ease," and it remained dull and forlorn till the next 
coming of the galleons. 

How large it was at this time of Drake's raid is not 
known. His sailors spoke of it as "bigg" as their 
home port of Plymouth. Fifteen years after the raid it 
was described as a "citie of thirtie householders or 
inhabitants," and only sixty houses, "builded of tim- 
ber." At Drake's coming the town must have been 
larger, with more than sixty wooden houses and more 
people. There was a church with a bell in its tower 
or roof which was to play a loud part during the raid; 
a governour's house; the king's treasure-house, this a 
stout building of lime and stone near the water-side; 
and perhaps other warehouses or public structures. 



Raid on Nombre-de-Dios 67 

The houses came down within twenty yards of the 
shore. A street led up from the harbour, and there 
were cross streets, all coming together in the plaza. 
The town lay against wooded hills. Though not 
walled about the settlement had a gate at the south- 
east end across the road to Panama, some fifty-five 
miles distant. There was no pier or wharf on the 
harbour front and vessels had to unload by carriers. 
Says one describing the place fifteen years after, in 
1587 (he was Baptista Antonio, surveyor for the king 
on the Spanish Main, and Hakluyt prints his reports): 
"Those laboring men which doe use the unlade [em- 
ployed to unload] those merchandize are all the whole 
day wading in the water up to their armepits to bring 
the packs of cloth and other merchandises aland; for 
there is no landing place where there can come any to 
land any goods close to the shore, so this wading and 
the parching of the Sun is the cause why so many do 
die of a burning fever." The harbour was a wretched 
one, a "sandy Bay hard by the sea," shallow, and 
open to the prevailing northerly and easterly gales. 
On either side before the town lay a ledge of rocks. 

Such was this "granary of the West Indies wherein 
the golden harvest" was "hoarded up till it could be 
conveyed to Spain," before which Drake's assaulting 
party of seventy-three Englishmen lay silently in their 
four boats under the highland at the harbour's entrance 
waiting for daylight to pounce upon it. 

As thus they lay through the dreary night Drake, 
with "some of his best men" (among whom we may 



68 The Boy's Drake 

be sure was classed the narrator), observed that num- 
bers of the force were growing uneasy with talk about 
the "greatnesse of the town" and what its "strength 
might be, especially by the report of the Negroes," 
taken at the Pine Islands, as to its re-enforcement from 
Panama — ^with Spanish infantry then reported to be 
the finest in the world. Thereupon he determined 
to "put these conceits out of their heads'* by a ruse, 
a veritable stroke of genius. Taking "the opportunity 
of the rising of the Moone that night," he cleverly led 
them to believe that it was the day dawning, and or- 
dered the advance. Thus they were brought to action 
"a large hour" earher than purposed, or "by three of 
the clocke after midnight." 

As they were rapidly though very quietly rowing 
up to the town they came upon a Spanish wine-ship, 
of sixty tons, bringing Canary wines, which had evi- 
dently only lately arrived in the bay, for she had not 
yet "furld her sprit-sayle." In the light of the late- 
rising moon they were espied from her deck, and doubt- 
less excited suspicion — as four stout pinnaces, well 
manned, and "rowing with many Oares," coming in 
from the sea in the night-time, naturally would, since 
her "Gundeloe" (gondola, or ship's boat), was seen to 
hurry off townward, obviously to give alarm. But 
this move Drake cleverly checked. "Our Captaine 
perceiving it, cut betwixt her and the Towne, forcing 
her to go th' other side of the Bay: whereby we landed 
without impeachment." 

The surprise was complete. At the point of land- 



Raid on Nombre-de-Dios 69 

ing, on the quayless shore, "not past twenty yards 
from the Houses," and directly under a battery, only 
one lonely gunner was encountered, and he was prob- 
ably asleep when they approached. Before he could 
be taken the gunner fled, and awoke and alarmed the 
town, as the assailants soon "perceived, not only by 
the noyse and cryes of the people, but by the Bell 
[on the church] ringing out, and Drums running up 
and down the Towne.'* The first thought of alarmer 
and alarmed was that the enemy were the expected 
dreaded Cimaroons, but they were soon to find out 
their mistake. 

Meanwhile Drake's force were dismantling the guns 
of the battery: "six great Pieces of brasse Ordnance 
mounted upon their Carriages, some Demy, some whole 
Culvering [culverins]." This done — now the story con- 
tinues in the narrator's words: 

"Our Captaine, according to the directions which 
he had given over night to such as he had made choyce 
of for the purpose, left twelve to keep the Pinnaces, 
that we might be sure of a safe retreit if the worst befell. 
And having made sure worke of the Platforme [bat- 
tery] before he would enter the Towne, he thought 
best first to view the Mount [hill] on the East side of 
the Towne, where, he was informed by sundry intelli- 
gencies [when here or hereabouts] the yeare before, 
they had an intent to plant Ordnance [guns], which 
might scower round about the Towne. Therefore 
leaving one halfe of his company to make a stand at 
the foot of the mount, he marched up presently unto 



yo The Boy's Drake 

the top of it, with all speed. . . . There we found no 
peece of Ordnance, but onely a very fit place prepared 
for such use, and therefore we left it without any of our 
men, and with all celerity returned down the Mount." 

Now the way was clear for business. "Then our 
Captaine appointed his brother [Captain John Drake], 
with John Oxnam [John Oxenham, a brave and de- 
voted right hand of Drake], and sixteene others to goe 
about behind the Kings treasure-house and enter neere 
the Easter [eastern] end of the market-place: himselfe 
with the rest would passe up the broad street into the 
market-place with sound of Drum and Trumpet. 

"The Firepikes, divided halfe to the one halfe to the 
other company, served no lesse for fright to the Enemy 
then [than] light of our Men, who by this meanes might 
discerne every place very well as if it were neere day, 
whereas the Inhabitants stood amazed at so strange a 
sight, marvelling what the matter might be; and imag- 
ining, by reason of our Drums and Trumpets sounding 
in so sundry places, that we had beene a farre greater 
number then [than] we were. 

"Yet by meanes of the Souldiers which were in the 
Towne [maybe of the force from Panama], and by 
reason of the time which we spent in marching up and 
downe the Mount, the Souldiers and the Inhabitants 
had put themselves in Armes, and brought their Com- 
panies in some order, at the South-east end of the 
Market-place neere the Govenours House, and not 
farre from the Gate of the Towne, which is onely one, 
leading towards Panama; having (as it seemes) gath- 



Raid on Nombre-de-Dios 71 

ered themselves thither either that in the Govenours 
sight they might shew their Valour, if it might prevaile, 
or else that by the Gate they might best take their 
Vale and escape readiest. And to make a shew of 
farre greater numbers of shot, or else of a custome they 
had by the like device to terrifie the Symerons [Cima- 
roons], they had hung Lines with Matches [torches] 
lighted, overthwart the Wester-end [western end] of 
the Market-place, betweene the Church and the Crosse, 
as though there had beene in a readinesse some com- 
pany of shot, whereas indeed there was not past two 
or three that taught these Lines to dance, till they 
themselves ran away, as soone as they perceived they 
were discovered. 

"But the Souldiers and such as were joyned with 
them, presented us with a jolly hot volley of shot, beat- 
ing full upon the egresse of that Street in which we 
marched, and levelling very low so as the Bullets oft- 
times grazed on the Sand. We stood not to answer 
them in like tearmes; but having discharged our 
first volley of shot, and feathered them with our ar- 
rowes (which our Captaine had caused to be made 
of purpose in England, not great sheafe arrowes, but 
fine roving shafts, very carefully reserved for the ser- 
vice) we came to the push of Pike, so that our fire- 
pikes being well armed and made of purpose, did us 
very great service. For our men with their Pikes and 
short weapons in short time tooke such order among 
these Gallants, some using the but-end of their Peeces 
in stead of other weapons, that partly by reason of our 



72 The Boy's Drake 

arrowes, which did us these notable service, partly by 
occasion of this strange and sudden closing with them, 
in this manner unlooked for, and the rather for that at 
the very instant our Captains brother with the other 
Company with their fire-pikes, entred the market-place 
by the Easter-street [eastern]: they casting downe their 
weapons, fled all out of the Towne by the gate afore- 
said, which had been built for a barre to keepe out of 
the Towne the Symerons [Cimaroons], who had often 
assailed it, but now served for a gap for the Spaniards 
to fly at/' 

The enemy thus routed and return having been made 
to the plaza: '*We made our stand neer the midst of 
the market place where a tree groweth hard by the 
crosse; whence our Captaine sent some of our men to 
stay [stop] the ringing of the alarme Bell, which had 
continued all this while: but the Church being very 
strongly built and fast shut, they could not without 
firing (which the Captaine forbad) get into the steeple 
where the Bell hung." 

The town now in their possession, the next move 
was for the treasure. "In the mean time our Captaine 
having taken [captured] two or three Spaniards in their 
flight, commanded them to shew them [the English] 
the Governours house, where he understood was the 
ordinary place of unlading the Moyles [mules] of all the 
treasure which came from Panamah by the Kings ap- 
pointment: Although the silver onely was kept there: 
the gold, pearle, and jewels (being there once entred 
by the Kings Officer) was carried from thence to the 



Raid on Nombre-de-Dios 73 

Kings treasure house not farre off, being a house very 
strongly built of lime and stone, for the safe keeping 
thereof. 

"At our comming to the Governours house, we found 
the great doore (where the Moyles do usually unlade) 
even then opened; a Candle lighted upon the top of 
the stayers [stairs]; and a faire Gennet [genet, a small 
Spanish horse] ready sadled, either for the Governour 
himselfe or some other of his house-hold to carry it after 
him. By meanes of this light we saw a huge heape 
of Silver in that nether roome: being a pile of bars of 
silver, of as (neere as we could guesse) seventy foot in 
length, of ten foot in breadth, and twelve foot in height, 
piled up against the wall, each barre was between thirty 
five and forty pound in weight. At sight hereof our 
Captaine commanded straightly that none of us should 
touch a barre of silver, but stand upon our weapons, 
because the Towne was full of people, and there was in 
the Kings treasure house near the waters side, more 
gold and jewels then [than] all our four Pinnaces could 
carry, which we would presently set some in hand to 
break open, notwithstanding the Spaniards reports of 
the strength of it." 

At this moment, however, startling word was re- 
ceived from the water-side: *'We were no sooner 
returned to our strength [their stand in the middle of 
the market-place], but there was a report brought by 
some of our men that our Pinnaces were in danger to 
be taken, and that if we our selves got not aboord be- 
fore day we should be opprest with multitudes both of 



74 The Boy's Drake 

Souldiers and townes people. This report had his [its] 
ground from one Diego 2i Negro, who in the time of the 
first conflict came and called to our Pinnaces to know 
whether they were Captain Drakes? and upon an- 
swer received, continued intreating to be taken aboard 
(though he had first three or foure shot made at him) 
untill at length they fetch him, and learned by him 
that not past eight days before our arrivall the King 
had sent thither some hundred and fifty Souldiers to 
guard the Town against the Symerons [Cimaroons], 
and the Towne at this time was full of people besides : 
which [was] all the rather believed because it agreed 
with the report of the Negroes which we tooke before 
at the Isle of Pinos : and therefore our Captaine sent 
his brother and John Oxnam [Oxenham] to under- 
stand the truth thereof. They found our men which 
we left in our Pinnaces much frighted by reason that 
they saw great Troopes and Companies running up 
and downe, with matches light [torches], some with other 
weapons, crying Que gente? que gente? [What people 1 
or Who are you 1:\ which having not been at the first 
conflict but cumming from the utter ends of the Towne, 
being at least as bigge as Plimouth, came many times 
neere us, and understanding that we were English, dis- 
charged their Peeces and ran away." 

Close upon this disconcerting matter there came an- 
other: "Presently after this a mighty shower of raine, 
with a terrible storme of thunder and lightning, fell, 
which powred downe so vehemently (as it usually doth 
in those Countries) that before we could recover the 



Raid on Nombre-de-Dios 75 

shelter of a certaine shade or pent-house [portico] at 
the Wester [western] end of the Kings treasure-house, 
which seemeth to have been built there of purpose to 
avoid Sunne or Raine, some of our bow-springs were 
wet, and some of our match and powder hurt." 

It was all most disheartening: and "divers" of the 
men in their sorry plight, drenched and miserable, 
began "harping on the reports lately brought us," and 
"muttering of the Forces of the Towne." This roused 
the captain to a blaze of indignation, and he told them 
spiritedly "that he had brought them to the mouth 
of the treasure of the World: if they would want it, 
they might henceforth blame no body but themselves." 
Then the moment that the storm "began to asswage of 
his [its] fury, which was a long halfe houre, willing to 
give his Men no longer leasure to demurre of those 
doubts, nor yet allow the Enemy farther respite to 
gather themselves together, he stept forward, command- 
ing his Brother, with John Oxham [Oxenham] and 
the Company appointed them, to breake the Kings 
Treasure-house: the rest to follow him, to keep the 
strength of the market place, till they had despatched 
the businesse for which they came." 

And then something alarming happened: "But as he 
stept forward his strength and sight and speech failed 
him, and he began to faint for want of blood, which, 
as then we perceived, had in great quantity issued upon 
the Sand, out of a wound received in his legg in the first 
incounter," when he was leading his detachment up 
the main street. He had kept the hurt to himself all 



76 The Boy's Drake 

this time: "Whereby though he felt some paine, yet 
(for that he perceived divers of the Company, having 
aheady gotten many good things, to be very ready to 
take all occasion of winding themselves out of that con- 
ceited danger) would he not have it knowne to any, till 
this his fainting, against his will, bewrayed [betrayed] 
it, the blood having first filled the very prints which 
our foot-steps made, to the great dismay of all our 
Company, who thought it not credible that one man 
should be able to spare so much blood and live." 

After giving him "somewhat to drinke whereby he 
recovered himselfe," and having bound his scarf about 
the wounded leg to stop the flow of blood, all, "even 
they which were willingest to have adventured most 
for so faire a booty," united in entreaty to him "to be 
content to goe with them aboard" the pinnaces, "there 
to have his wound searched and drest." That done, 
if he thought good, they might return ashore again. 
To this, however, he could not be persuaded. He 
knew that if the game were left at this stage it was most 
unlikely that they could return again "to recover the 
state in which they now were"; and he declared that 
"it were more honourable for himselfe to jeopard his 
life for so great a benefit then [than] to leave off so high 
an enterprize unperformed." Persuasion failing, as a 
last resort, they "joyned altogether, and with force 
mingled with faire intreaty, they bare him aboard his 
Pinnace, and so abandoned a rich spoyle for the pres- 
ent onely to preserve their Captaines life." They rea- 
soned wisely that, "while they enjoyed his presence and 



Raid on Nombre-de-DIos 77 

had him to command them, they might recover wealth 
sufficient; but if once they lost him they should hardly 
be able to recover home, no not v^ith that which they 
had gotten already." 

It was only daybreak when they embarked and put 
off from the town. Besides their captain they had 
many men wounded. Only one of the force had been 
killed: a trumpeter who fell as he was sounding his 
trumpet. As they passed out the harbour they seized 
the wine-ship lying there "without great resistance," 
to appropriate her cargo of canary, "for the more 
comfort" of their wounded. Before they were quite 
free of the haven, a shot was sent after them from one 
of the guns that the soldiers had managed to bring up 
to the dismantled battery, but it "hindered them not" 
from carrying off their prize. 

So ended the audacious raid of seventy-four men 
upon a fair-sized town. Nombre-de-Dios had been 
taken successfully: but the "mouth of the treasure of 
the World " still remained tight shut. 



IX 

ATTEMPTING CARTAGENA 

THE Spaniards could not believe that Drake's raid- 
ing company were so small as they actually were. 
The Spanish account of the Nombre-de-Dios 
affair doubled the number. This account was inaccu- 
rate in some other respects; it was, however, graphic, 
and of interest as well as of some value as picturing the 
assault from the town's point of view, although it gave 
the impression that Drake was repulsed. Thus it ran, 
short and crisp in the translation: 

"There was a certain English man named Francis 
Drake, who having intelligence how the towne of 
Nombre de Dios in Nueva Espanna, had but small 
store of people remaining there, came on a night, and 
entred the Port with foure Pinnesses, and landed about 
150 men, & leaving 70 men with a Trumpet in a Fort 
which was there, with the other 80 he entred the towne, 
without doing any harme, till he came to the market 
place, and there discharged his calivers, & sounded a 
trumpet very loud, and the other which he had left in 
the Fort answred him after the same maner, with the 
discharging their calivers, and sounding their trumpets: 

78 



Attempting Cartagena 79 

the people hereupon not thinking of any such matter, 
were put in great feare, and waking out of their sleepe 
fled all into the mountaines, inquiring one of another 
what the matter should be, remaming as men amazed, 
not knowing what that uprore was which happened so 
suddenly in the towne. But 14 or 15 of them joyning 
together with their harquebuzes, went to the market 
place to know what they were that were in the towne, 
and in a corner of the market place they did discover 
the Englishmen, and seeing them to be but fewe, dis- 
charged their calivers at those Englishmen: their fort- 
une was such that they killed the Trumpetter, and shot 
one of the principall men thorow [through] the legg, 
who seeing himselfe hurt, retyred to the Fort, where the 
rest of their company was left: they which were in the 
Fort sounded their Trumpet, and seeing that they in the 
towne did not answere them, and hearing the calivers, 
thought that all they in the towne had bene slaine, and 
thereupon fled to their Pinnesses: the English captaine 
comming to the Fort, and not finding his men which 
he left there, he and his were in so great feare, that 
leaving their furniture behind them, and putting off 
their hose, they swamme, and waded all to their Pin- 
nesses, and so went with their ships againe out of the 
Port." 

This account was written by a Portuguese, one Lo- 
pez Vaz, who, "with the discourse about him," which 
covered as inaccurately Drake's other exploits on this 
voyage, "was taken at the River of Plate by the ships 
sent forth by the Right Honourable the Earle of Cum- 



8o The Boy's Drake 

berland in the yeere 1586," as Hakluyt informs us in 
his preface to the account which he first pubhshed in 
his Principal Navigations. 

Upon their withdrawal with their wounded captain, 
the raiders found refuge on a neighbouring island; the 
Isle of Bastimentos, or "Isle of Victuales," lying about 
a league to the westward of Nombre-de-Dios, where 
were farms from which the town was supplied. Here 
they tarried through the next two days, caring for their 
wounded; refreshing themselves **in the goodly Gar- 
dens" which were found "abounding with great store 
of all dainty Roots and Fruits, besides great plenty of 
Poultery and other Fowles not less strange then [than] 
deHcate"; and making free use of the wines in their 
prize-ship which they had brought along with them. 
And here shortly came to them a spy from Nombre- 
de-Dios. He was a very gentleman-like spy, quite an 
artful dissembler, lavish of compliment for Drake's 
daring performance, and full of pretension that his 
visit was most friendly — only politely to ask a few 
harmless questions. Drake as artfully rose to the 
occasion. Recognising at once this polished Spanish 
soldier's true colours, he received him none the less 
graciously. His elaborate courtesy was met with an 
elaborate suavity. In the colloquy that ensued as lofty 
a note was struck and maintained by the Englishman 
as by the Spaniard. The narrator's account ends like 
a passage from the immortal Don Quixote of Cervantes. 

"Shortly upon our first arrival in this Hand, the 
Governour and the rest of his assistants in the Towne 



Attempting Cartagena 8i 

(as we afterwards understood) sent unto our Captaine 
a proper Gentleman of meane [small] stature, good 
complexion, and faire spoken, a principall Souldier of 
the late sent Garrison, to view in what state we were. 
At his comming he protested he came to us of meere good 
will, for that we had attempted so great and incredible 
a matter with so few men : and that at first they feared 
that we had been French, at whose hands they knew 
they should find no mercy: but after they perceived by 
our Arrowes that we were English men their feares were 
the lesse, for that they knew that though we tooke the 
Treasure of the place, yet we would not use cruelty tow- 
ards their persons. But albeit this his affection gave 
him cause enough to come aboard such whose vertues 
he so honoured, yet the Governour also had [not] only 
consented to his comming, but directly sent him, upon 
occasion that divers of the Towne affirmed (said he) 
that they knew our Captaine, who the last two yeares 
had beene often on their Coast, and had always used 
their persons very well. And therefore desired to 
know, first, whether our Captaine were the same Cap- 
taine Drake or no .? and next, because many of their 
men were wounded with our Arrowes, whether they 
were poysoned or no ? And how their wounds might 
best be cured .? Lastly, what victuals we wanted or 
other necessaries .? Of which the Governour promised 
by him to supply and furnish us as largely as he durst. 
"Our Captaine although he thought the Souldier but 
a Spy: yet used him very courteously, and answered 
him to his Governours demands. That he was the 



82 The Boy's Drake 

same Drake whom they meant: it was never his man" 
ner to poyson his Arrowes: they might cure their 
wounds by ordinary Chyrurgery [surgery]: as for wants 
he knew the Hand of Bastimentos had sufficient, and 
could furnish him if he hsted: but he wanted nothing 
but some of that special commodity [the treasure] 
which that Countrey yeelded, to content himselfe and 
his Company. And therefore he advised the Gover- 
nour to hold open his eyes, for before he departed, if 
God lent him life and leave, he meant to reape some 
of their Harvest which they get out of the Earth and 
send into Spaine to trouble all the Earth. 

"To this answer unlooked for, this Gentleman re- 
plyed : If he might without offence move such a ques- 
tion, what should then be the cause of our departing 
from that Towne at this time, where was above three 
hundred and fifty Tun of silver ready for the Fleet, and 
much more Gold in value, resting in Iron Chests in the 
King's Treasure-house ? But when our Captaine had 
shewed him the true cause of his unwilling retreat 
aboard [Drake's own wound probably]: he acknowl- 
edged that we had no less reason in departing then 
[than] courage in attempting: and no doubt did easily 
see that it was not for the Towne to seek revenge of us 
by manning forth such Frigates or other vessels as they 
had: but better to content themselves and provide for 
their own defence. 

"Thus with great favour and courteous entertain- 
ment, besides such gifts from our Captaine as most 
contented him: after dinner he was in such sort dis- 



Attempting Cartagena 83 

missed, to make report of that he had seen, that he 
protested he was never so much honoured of any in his 
Hfe." 

After the gentleman-like spy's departure the negro, 
Diego, who had escaped to the English during the raid 
and had been taken into Drake's service, was examined 
more fully as to his knowledge of affairs on the main. 
He confirmed the spy's report of the quantity of gold 
and silver at Nombre-de-Dios. He told especially how 
the band might have gold and silver in plenty if they 
would engage with the Cimaroons. Though he had 
betrayed these people "divers times," not voluntarily 
but at the behest of his master, and they would kill him 
if they caught him, yet if Drake would protect him he 
would bring the captain to them. He ''durst advent- 
ure his life" in such an action because, as he said, "he 
knew our Captaines name was most precious and 
highly honoured of them"; a touch of flattery that was 
effective, for his report, says the narrative, "ministred 
occasion for further consultation." 

Before seeking the Cimaroons, however, Drake deter- 
mined to attempt another raid or two on the coast 
with his own force. The taking of Nombre-de-Dios 
had been so easy that he would try for bigger game 
without allies. While the "mouth of the treasure of 
the World" could not yet be pried open, rich plunder 
elsewhere lay ready to a bold hand. Cartagena, the 
chief city of the main, might be as easily taken, and 
with profit. A raid upon the treasure-carriers between 
Panama and Nombre-de-Dios might be timely. Both 



84 The Boy's Drake 

these projects were included in the plan of campaign 
which our captain is now found perfecting with all the 
alertness of a well man. We hear no more of his 
wound. It either healed speedily, or he rose superior 
to the hurt. 

At the outset he disclosed to his associates, appar- 
ently, only a part of the new plan — the interception of 
the treasure-carriers. To this end he would have a 
closer reconnoissance than he had been able to make 
on his voyage the year before, of the water route by 
which the treasure was transported in part across the 
isthmus when the highway was unsafe by reason of 
heavy rains or raids of the Cimaroons. Accordingly, 
he detailed his brother, Captain John Drake, and 
Ellis Hixom, with two of the pinnaces and their com- 
plement of men, to go and "search about the river 
Chagro" [Chagres], and examine the situation about 
"the little town called Venta Cruz." In his previous 
voyage Drake had learned how this river, trending 
southward across the isthmus, was navigable from the 
sea to Venta Cruz, within eighteen miles of Panama, 
and how at Venta Cruz when the part-water way in- 
stead of the all-land way was to be followed, the treas- 
ure was shipped from the mule-trains, bringing it from 
Panama, to "frigates," or little vessels built for sails 
and oars, which conveyed it the rest of the way to 
Nombre-de-Dios. The river was seen to ebb and flow, 
"not farre into the land," and it had been found that 
three days' rowing was required to carry a pinnace from 
the river's mouth at the sea to Venta Cruz, while the 



Attempting Cartagena 85 

return occupied only one day and a night. It is sup- 
posed that Drake particularly desired to learn whether 
the river was in condition at this season for such craft 
as his pinnaces. Captains John Drake and Hixom 
were to return with their report to the rendezvous at 
the Pine Islands. 

These arrangements completed, on the morning of 
the third day all departed from the friendly "Isle of 
Victuals," Captains John Drake and Hixon, with the 
two pinnaces assigned them, sailing westward, Drake 
and the rest of the company in the other two pinnaces 
taking a course direct for the Pine Islands. 

The latter's voyage was slow, and it was not till 
toward night of the second day out that the rendez- 
vous was reached. Captain Rouse was found with the 
ships as he had been left. He heard the report of the 
raid and its outcome with disfavour and uneasiness, ap- 
parently. He expressed doubts of their "safe continu- 
ance" upon the coast, they being now discovered, and 
declared his willingness to withdraw from the part- 
nership and go his own way. Drake was "no lesse wil- 
ling to dismisse him." Accordingly the partnership 
was dissolved, and five or six days later, upon the re- 
turn of the Chagres River expedition, on which pre- 
sumably were some of his men, Captain Rouse took 
his leave. And so he passes out of this story. 

The Chagres River reconnoissance was evidently 
satisfactory, for the narrative records that the two mas- 
ters brought "such advertisements [information] as 
they were sent for." Their report, however, was re- 



86 The Boy's Drake 

served for future consideration, for now Drake gave 
the word for the assault upon Cartagena. 

In this affair the whole fleet were employed: the two 
ships and the three pinnaces. The passage across to 
the main and along the coast was slow, occupying some 
six days, because of repeated calms. But all this time 
every temptation to go for prizes, as Spanish craft were 
sighted, was sternly resisted, for discovery must be 
avoided. 

So Cartagena was stealthily approached, and on the 
evening of August 13 the two ships came quietly to 
anchor outside the harbour, "between the Islands of 
Charesha and Saint Barnards" [San Barnardo], while 
Drake himself led the three pinnaces about the latter 
island into the haven. 

Then as now Cartagena harbour was one of the best 
on this coast. The fair town lay on its island, a mile 
and a half back from the broader of the two harbour 
entrances, the "Great Mouth" "where all the ships do 
enter,'* and three miles eastward of the lesser entrance, 
or "Little Mouth." Baptista Antonio's description of 
it in 1587, in that report of his survey along the main 
from which we quoted in the description of Nombre- 
de-Dios, may have pictured it much as it appeared at 
the time of this raid. "It hath about 450 dwellers 
therein. There are very fair buildings therein; as con- 
cerning their houses, they are made of stone, and there 
are three Monasteries of which two of them are of 
Friars which are within the city, . . . and the other 
which standeth without the city about thirty paces off. 



Attempting Cartagena 87 

. . . This city hath great trade out of Spain, and out 
of the new kingdom of Grenada, . . . from Peru and 
from all the coast of this firm land [the Main], and of 
the fishing of the pearls of Rio de la Hacha. . . . This 
city hath a very good harbour, and sufficient to receive 
great store of ships: this said harbour hath tw^o en- 
trances in, the one of them lyeth half a league from the 
city, where all the ships do enter into the said harbour; 
the mouth of entering in of the harbour is 1400 yards 
or paces in breadth, and very deep water. The other 
entering in, which is called La Boca Chica, or Little 
Mouth, lyeth a league beyond this place to the west- 
ward." The city was better fortified than Nombre- 
de-Dios and the lesser settlements at this time of 
Drake's coming. 

"At the very entry" of the haven with the pinnaces, 
Drake came upon a large Spanish "frigate" lying at 
anchor. Challenging her, only a single mariner was 
found in charge and he an "old Man." To Drake's 
demand of him where were the rest of the ship's com- 
pany, he said they had gone ashore in their "gunda- 
loe" [gondola]. Doubtless the ship would have been 
taken instanter had not the garrulous old fellow vol- 
unteered other information of a more exciting nature, 
which necessitated a change of programme. He told 
how, two hours before night, there had passed by the 
frigate "a Pinnace with Sayle and Oares, as fast as 
ever they could row"; how those aboard the pinnace 
had called to the frigate's men, "whether there had not 
beene any English or Frenchmen there lately"; how, 



88 The Boy's Drake 

*'upon answer that there had been none, they bid them 
[the frigate's men] to looke to themselves"; how, 
within an hour after the pinnace was come to the "utter- 
side of Cartagene there were many great Peeces shot 
off"; and how one of the frigate's men "going to the 
top to descry what might be the cause. Espied over the 
land [a narrow neck shutting the harbour from the sea] 
divers Frigates and small shipping bringing themselves 
within the Castle." 

This tale Drake credited, for he had himself heard 
the report of guns when yet at sea. And thus he per- 
ceived that with all their care their approach had been 
discovered. 

Still the daring man was not to be thwarted with- 
out a strike. Further examination of the free-tongued 
mariner disclosed that there lay within the next point, 
"a great Ship of Sivell [Seville] which had here dis- 
charged her lading, and rid now with her yards acrosse, 
being bound the next morning for Saint Domingo.'^ 

This was enough for Drake. She must be tackled 
without a moment's delay. So, taking the old man 
into his own pinnace "to verifie that which he had in- 
formed," all three pinnaces were off after her. She was 
found as the ancient mariner had stated. As they 
neared her they were hailed from her deck and asked, 
"Whence our Shallops were." The reply was impu- 
dently correct: they were "from Nombre-de-Dios." 
The Spaniards shouted back in derision: "straight way 
they railed and reviled," are the narrator's words. Un- 
heeding these contemptuous cries, Drake brought his 



Attempting Cartagena 89 

tiny fleet into battle array. One pinnace advanced 
"on the starboord bough [bow], the other on the star- 
boord quarter, and the Captaines in the midship on the 
starboord side." Forthwith the big ship was boarded. 
Some difficulty was met in this operation by reason of 
her height. But all were soon upon the decks. Then 
the action became lively. "We threw down the gates 
and spardecks to prevent the Spaniards from annoying 
us with their close fights"; and thus at the first on- 
slaught the ship was possessed. Her crew "stowed 
themselves all in the hold with their weapons, except 
two or three yonkers [younger sailors] who were found 
afore the beetes [bitts, upright pieces of timber to which 
cables were fastened]." Next her cables were cut, 
and the three pinnaces towed her out into the sound, 
"right afore the Towne without danger of their [the 
town's] great guns." 

In the meantime the town had been informed of 
these goings on by the watch, and had taken "th' 
alarme." The public bells were set a-ringing; "about 
thirty Peeces of great Ordnance" were shot off"; all of 
the available men were brought in readiness to resist 
an assault. And now "horse and foot came down to 
the very point of the Wood," on the neck, "and dis- 
charged their Calivers to impeach us if they might in 
going forth." But these efixjrts were ineffective. 

Drake's squadron, with the prizes, lay unmolested 
at their anchorage through that night. The next 
morning two more prizes were taken. These were 
two frigates in which were two passengers "who called 



90 The Boy's Drake 

themselves the King's Scrlvanors [notaries], the one of 
Carthagene, th' other of Veragua with seven Mariners 
and two Negroes." The notaries had been in Nombre- 
de-Dios at the time of the raid and were now bound 
for Cartagena, with highly important " double [duplicate] 
Letters of Advice" to the Cartagenians. They were "to 
certifie them that Captaine Drake had heene at Nomhre 
de Dtos, had taken it, and had it not heene that He 
was hurt with some blessed shot, by all likelihood he 
had sackt it: he was yet still upon the Coast: they 
should therefore carefully prepare for him.^* 

With this information Drake concluded to postpone 
his attack upon the city to a more favourable time. 
He would, instead, dissemble. Although he was now 
discovered "upon two of the chiefest places of all the 
Coast," he had no thought of leaving it till he had com- 
pleted his voyage with the accomplishment of all he 
had set out for. But he would seemingly retire, and 
give the enemy the impression that his operations 
were ended, at least for the present. Accordingly, 
when he had "brought all his Fleet together," he 
chivalrously liberated the notaries, and, "content to doe 
them all favours," set them with "all their companies" 
ashore. Then the jfleet bore away to the San Barnardo 
Islands, some nine miles off the city, southward, 

Here they came again to anchor while Drake con- 
sidered his next move. 



X 

ROAMING OFF THE SPANISH MAIN 

AT the San Barnardo Islands "great store of fish" 
was found, and fishing was the principal occu- 
pation of Drake's men, while they awaited the 
word for the next adventure. But before that word 
was given Drake conceived and secretly directed an 
astonishing performance, which, had his hand in it been 
discovered, would have incited his men to mutiny. 

This was nothing less than the deliberate scuttling 
of one of the two ships, the " Swan," as if by an acci- 
dent. Drake realised that he must prepare for a long 
stay about this coast, probably through the winter, 
and it was necessary to reduce the squadron. The 
work that he was now planning was to be done with 
the pinnaces, and with the two ships to maintain It 
would be difficult to man sufficiently the smaller craft 
for cruises of any length. Relieved of the "Swan," 
the greater part of the company could be employed 
in the pinnaces. The "Pascha" was large enough to 
take on the stores of the "Swan," and she could be 
easily hidden and left with a small guard while the 
pinnaces were off on their enterprises. So the "Swan" 

91 



92 The Boy's Drake 

must be got out of the way. It must have caused 
Drake some heart-burnings to pronounce sentence 
upon this gallant ship which had done him such loyal 
service. It was like condemning to death a steadfast 
old friend. But it had to be done. And how artfully 
it was done and the sentence was executed the nar- 
rator tells in one of his most dramatic passages. 

"But knowing the affection of his Company, how 
loath they were to leave either of their Ships, being 
both so good Saylers, and so well furnished: he pur- 
posed in himselfe by some Policy, to make them most 
willing to effect that he intended. And therefore 
sent for one Thomas Moone (who was Carpenter in 
the Swanne) and taking him into his Cabin, chargeth 
him to conceale for a time a piece of service which he 
must in any case consent to doe aboord his owne 
Ship: that was, in the middle of the second Watch, to 
goe down secretly into the Well of the Ship, and with 
a great spike-gimlet to boare three hoales as neere the 
Keele as he could, and lay something against it that 
the force of the Water entring might make no great 
noyse, nor be discovered by boyling up. Thomas 
Moone at the hearing hereof being utterly dismayed, 
desired to know what cause there might be to move 
him to sincke so good a Barke of his own, new, and 
strong, and that by his means, who had beene in two 
so rich and gainfull Voyages in her with himselfe here- 
tofore: If his Brother, the Master, and the rest of the 
Company should know of such his fact [? act], he 
thought verily they would kill him. But when our 



Roaming Off the Spanish Main 93 

Captaine had imparted to him his causes, and had 
perswaded him with promise that it should not be 
knowne, till all of them should be glad of it: he un- 
dertook it, and did it accordingly. 

"The next morning [August 15] our Captaine took 
his Pinnace very early, purposing to goe a fishing (for 
that there is very great store in all the Coast) and fall- 
ing a board the Swanne, calleth for his Brother to goe 
with him, who rising suddenly, answered that he would 
follow presently, or if it would please him to stay a 
very little, he would attend him. Our Captaine per- 
ceiving the feat wrought [Moone's job done], would not 
hasten him, but in rowing away demanded of them 
[the ship's crew] why their Barke was so deepe I as 
making no account of it: but by occasion of this demand 
his Brother sent one downe to the Steward to know 
whether there were any water in the ship .? or what 
other cause might be ? The Steward hastily stepping 
downe at his usuall skuttle, was wet up to the waste, 
and shifting with more haste to come up againe as if 
the water had followed him, cryed out that the Ship 
was full of water. 

"There was no need to hasten the Company, some 
to Pumpe, others to search for the Leake, which the 
Captaine of the Barke seeing they did on all hands 
very willingly, he followed his Brother and certified 
him of the strange chance befel them that night; that 
whereas they had not Pumpt twice in six weekes be- 
fore, now they had six foote water in hold: therefore 
he desireth leave from attending him in fishing, to in- 



94 The Boy's Drake 

tend [direct] the search and remedy of the leake: and 
when our Captaine with his Company profered to go 
to help them, he answered they had men enough 
aboard, and prayed him to continue his fishing, that 
they might have some part of it for their dinner. Thus 
returning, he found his Company had taken great 
paines, but had freed the water very Httle; yet such 
was their love to the Barke (as our Captaine well knew) 
that they ceased not, but to the utmost of their strength 
laboured all that they might till three in the afternoone, 
by which time the Company, perceiving that, though 
they had beene relieved by our Captaine himselfe and 
many of his Company, yet they were not able to free 
above a foot and a halfe of water, and could have no 
likehhood of finding the Leake, had now a lesse Hking 
of her then [than] before, and greater content to hear 
of some meanes for remedy: whereupon our Captaine 
consulting with them what they thought best to be 
done: found that they had more desire to have all 
as he thought fit, then [than] judgement to conceive 
any meanes of remedy. 

"And therefore he propounded, that himselfe would 
go into the Pinnance till he could provide some hand- 
some Frigate [that is, capture some Spanish ship], and 
that his Brother should be Captaine in the Admirall 
[the Pascha], and the Master should also be there 
placed with him, instead of this [the sinking "Swan"]: 
which seeing they could not save, he would have fired 
[burned], that the Enemy might never recover her: 
but first all the Pinnaces should be brought aboard 



Roaming Off the Spanish Main 95 

[alongside] her, that every one might take out of her 
whatsoever they lackt or Hked. This, though the com- 
pany at first marveiled at, yet presently it was put in 
execution and performed that night." 

And so, "our Captaine had his desire, and men 
enough for his Pinnaces/' After this performance it 
is supposed that Drake abandoned his prizes which 
had meanwhile also been relieved of their valuables. 

The word to move was given the very next morning. 
First, some fit place was to be sought in the "sound of 
Dorrienne" (Darien), where the "Pascha" could be 
safely left at anchor, "not discoverable by the Enemy,'* 
who thereby might imagine the marauders quite de- 
parted from the coast. Then the pinnaces should 
start out: Drake, with two of them to penetrate the 
Rio Grande, or Magdalena, River, opening from the 
sea north-eastward of Cartagena; his brother, Captain 
John, with the other one to seek out the Cimaroons. 

So presently all set sail, and within five days, having 
proceeded cautiously, the new lair was reached. Just 
where in the Gulf of Darien this place was cannot be 
definitely fixed. All that the narrator tells us is that 
it was "a fit and convenient road [haven] out of all 
trade." Here some fifteen happy days were spent in 
alternate work and play, the company, meanwhile, 
keeping themselves close, that "the bruit" (noise or 
news) of their still being upon the coast might cease. 

It must indeed have been a joyous fortnight, under 
the lead of the shrewd captain who evidently well 
knew, with the old adage, that "all work and no play 



96 The Boy's Drake 

makes Jack a dull boy." For "besides such ordinary 
workes as our Captaine every Moneth did usually 
inure us to, about trimming and fitting of his Pinnaces 
for theirbetter sailing and rowing: he caused us to rid 
[clear] a large plot of ground both of Trees and Brakes, 
and to build us Houses sufficient for all our lodging, 
and one especially for all our publique meetings, 
wherein the Negro [Diego] which fled to us before, did 
us good service, as being well acquainted with the 
Countrey and their meanes of Building. Our Archers 
made themselves Butts [marks or targets] to shoot at, 
and wanted not a Fletcher [arrow-maker] to keepe our 
Bowes and Arrowes in order. The rest of the Com- 
pany, every one as he Hked best, made his disport at 
Bowles, Quoits, Keiles [kails or kayles], &c. For 
our Captaine allowed one halfe of their Company to 
passe their time thus, every other day interchangeably, 
the other halfe being enjoyned to the necessary workes 
about our Ship and Pinnaces, and the providing of 
fresh Victuals, Fish, Fowle, Hogs, Deere, Conies, &c., 
whereof there is great plenty. Here our Smiths set up 
their Forge, as they used, being furnished out of Eng- 
land [brought out] with Anvil, Iron, Coales, and all 
manner of necessaries, which stood us in great stead." 
At the end of the fifteen days Drake started off with 
the two pinnaces for his cruise into the Magdalena, 
leaving brother John in charge of the lair "to keepe all 
things in order," later to go with the other pinnace on 
his mission to the Cimaroons. The narrator was of 
Drake's party so that we have the account at first hand 



Roaming Off the Spanish Main 97 

of this adventure, which was full of incident, and pros- 
perous. One of its objects, if not the principal one, 
was to get a further supply of provisions for the win- 
ter's stock. On the Magdalena lay the fruitful province 
of Nueva Reyna, from which at that time the victual- 
ling yards of Cartagena were supplied and outgoing 
ships provisioned. It had rich pasture lands where 
herds of wild cattle were raised for meat for the market. 
Also in this district there was at that time a considera- 
ble trade in sugar, precious metals, and pearls, which 
doubtless added to its attractiveness to Drake. 

His course was taken from the Gulf of Darien east- 
ward well out to sea, so that Cartagena was passed 
out of sight, and the mouths of the river were ap- 
proached unobserved by any of the "enemy." When 
within about two leagues, or six miles, west of the 
openings, a landing was made on the main at a point 
where there was "great store of cattle." At the shore 
some Indian cow-herds were met, who asked "in 
friendly sort," and in broken Spanish, what the party 
would have ? When they were made to understand 
that the only desire was fresh victuals in traffic, they 
good-naturedly provided all that was wanted. And 
when Drake, as the narrator notes, "according to his 
custome contented them for their paines with such 
things as they account greatly of," they promised that 
his men should have of them at any time what they 
wanted. The dexterity with which these cow-herds 
caught the wild creatures won the Englishman's admi- 
ration. "They tooke such Cattle for us as we needed 



gS The Boy's Drake 

with ease, and so readily as if they had a speciall com- 
mandment over them, whereas they [the steers] would 
not abide us to come neere them." The pinnaces were 
laden with the fresh meat, and then were off again. 
Then in mid-afternoon of the same day the party 
entered the river, going in by the "westermost" of 
the two mouths, called "Boca Chica." 

The current was so strong that, although they rowed 
"from three a clocke to darke night" they were able to 
make no more than two leagues, six miles, up the stream. 
They moored the pinnaces to a tree for that night, and 
disposed themselves for rest. But soon trouble came 
upon them, first with an awful thunder-storm, then 
with a visitation of strange insects — strange to them — 
with a spiteful "bite": "such an innumerable multitude 
of a kind of flies of that Country called Muskitos (like 
our Gnats) which bite so spitefully that we could not 
rest all that night, nor finde meanes to defend our 
selves from them, by reason of the heate of the Country: 
the best remedy we then found against them was the 
juyce of Lymons." 

At dawn they left this place and renewed the labo- 
rious voyage up-stream. Rowing in the eddy and, where 
the eddy failed, hauling the boats up by the trees, in five 
hours of hot rowing and hauling they had advanced 
only five leagues, fifteen miles. Thus far no other craft 
had been met or sighted. But now a canoe was espied 
in which were two Indians fishing in the river. Neither 
party, however, spoke. The Englishmen passed si- 
lently lest their nationality be discovered, the Indians 



Roaming Off the Spanish Main 99 

uttered no word presumably taking the strangers to 
be Spaniards. Still pushing on, within another hour 
"certain houses" were dimly discovered on the opposite 
side of the river, which here was so broad "that a man 
could scarcely be discerned from side to side." It 
was evident that the pinnaces were seen from these 
houses, for smoke was observed to rise beside them as 
from a signal-fire. This Drake took for a signal to 
turn toward it, and did so. When his pinnaces were 
half-way across, a Spaniard was seen on the shore, 
waving a welcome "with his hat and his long, hanging 
sleeves," he evidently thinking the oncomers to be his 
countrymen. But as they drew nearer and he dis- 
covered that they were strangers "he tooke [to] his 
heels, & fled from his houses." Reaching the shore 
Drake and his men immediately landed and found the 
huts to be warehouses, filled with choice things. There 
were five in all, full stocked with "white Ruske, dryed 
Bacon, that Countreys Cheese (like Holland Cheese 
in fashion, but farre more delicate in taste of which 
they send into Spain as speciall Presents), many 
sorts of sweet meats and Conserves, with great store 
of sugar, being provided to serve the Fleet returning 
to Spain'* 

It was a great find. The pinnaces were hurriedly 
loaded with as much of the good stuffs as they could 
carry, and by the "shutting in of the day" they were 
ready to depart. It was determined to .hasten back 
with their gains, because of a report made by some 
Indian women who hovered about the warehouses 



100 The Boy's Drake 

while the transfer of their goods was making to the 
pinnaces. This report was that the fleet of cargo 
frigates which usually came up here at regular inter- 
vals from Cartagena had not appeared since the first 
alarm of Drake's presence on the coast, but were now 
daily expected. There were, ordinarily, thirty or more 
ships of this fleet. They brought the merchandise 
sent out from Spain to Cartagena to these warehouses, 
whence it was transferred in great canoes up the river 
into Nueva Reyno, the canoes bringing back, in ex- 
change, the gold, silver, and other treasure, commodi- 
ties, and provisions which it yielded. 

But Drake's party did not get away without a bit of 
skirmish. "As we were going aboord our Pinnaces 
from these Store-houses, the Indians of a great Towne 
called Ville del Rey, some two miles distant [and in- 
land] from the waters side where we landed, were 
brought downe by the Spaniards into the bushes, and 
shot their arrowes." No harm, however, was done the 
Englishmen. They rowed quickly down the stream, 
with the current, since the wind was against them, and 
when only about three miles off from the warehouses, 
as night was falling, they anchored. Here they re- 
mained through that night undisturbed. Early the 
next morning off" again, still rowing instead of sailing, 
they were not long in comfortably reaching the river's 
mouth by which they had entered. Here landing on 
the main, and hauling the pinnaces ashore, a day was 
spent in thoroughly cleaning and trimming the craft. 
Then they re-embarked and took their course westward 



Roaming Off the Spanish Main loi 

for their lair. Their adventures, however, were not yet 
ended. " In the way between Carthagene and Tolou, we 
tooke five or six Frigates, which were laden from Tolou 
with live Hogs, Hens, and Maiz [maize], which we call 
Guyny [Guinea] Wheat: of these having gotten what 
intelligence they could give of their preparation for us, 
and divers opinions of us, we dismissed all the men, 
onely staying two Frigates with us, because they were 
so well stored with good Victuals." 

Within three days after they were safe arrived, with 
their plunder and prizes in their hidden port. To this 
lair the company pretty soon gave a name. They called 
it "Port Plenty," because of the marvellous quantity 
of "good victuals" which they accumulated here. 
They were continually taking "all manner store of good 
Victuals" from Spanish ships passing their way by sea 
for the "victualling of Carthagene and N ombre de Dios, 
as also the Fleets going and comming out of Spain." 
Indeed, had the company numbered "two thousand, 
yea, three thousand persons," the narrator assures us, 
they might, with their pinnaces, "easily have pro- 
vided them sufficient victual of Wine, Meale, Ruske, 
Cassavy (a kinde of Bread made of a Root called 
Yuccay whose juyce is poyson but the substance good 
and wholesome), dryed Beefe, dryed Fish, live Sheepe, 
live Hogs, aboundance of Hens, besides the infinite 
store of dainty fresh [ ? fish] very easily to be taken 
every day." With this accumulation, Drake decided 
to establish and stock four "magazines," or store- 
houses, at different points on islands and on the main. 



102 The Boy's Drake 

from ten to twenty leagues apart. In this work the 
faithful Diego was most helpful, for he had a ''speciall 
skill in the speedy erection of such houses." 

Meanwhile the long-considered alliance with the 
Cimaroons was effected. Brother John had success- 
fully executed his commission during Drake's absence. 
The story of this expedition and of the negotiations that 
followed the narrator gives in quaint detail: 

*Tn our absence Captaine John Drake having one 
of our Pinnaces as was appointed, went in with the 
maine [main], and as he rowed a loose the shoare, where 
he was directed by Diego the Negroe aforesaid, which 
[who] willingly came unto us at Nombre de Dios, he 
espied certaine of the Symerons [Cimaroons] with 
whom he dealt so effectually, that in conclusion he left 
two of our men with their Leader, and brought aboard 
two of theirs [that is, hostages were exchanged]: agree- 
ing that they should meet him againe the next Day, at 
a River midway betweene the Cahezas [headlands] and 
our Ships, which they named Rio Diego [from the faith- 
ful negro]. These two [the Cimaroon hostages] being 
very sensible men, chosen out by their Commander, 
did with all reverence and respect, declare unto our 
Captaine that their Nation conceived great joy of his 
arrivall, because they knew him to be an enemy to the 
Spaniards, not onely by his late being in Nombre de 
Dios, but also by his former Voyages, and therefore 
were ready to assist and favour his enterprises against 
his and their Enemies to the uttermost: and to that end 
their Captaine and Company, did stay at this present 



Roaming Off the Spanish Main 103 

neer the mouth of Rio Diego to attend what answer and 
order should be given them." 

Then followed the negotiations. ''Our Captaine 
considering the speech of these persons, and weigh- 
ing it with his former intelligences had not onely by 
Negroes but Spaniards also, whereof he was alwayes 
very carefull : as also conferring it with his Brothers in- 
formations of the great kindnesse that they shewed him, 
. . . resolved himselfe with his Brother and the two 
Symerons, in his two Pinnaces to goe toward the River; 
as he did the same evening, giving order that the Ship 
and the rest of the Fleet should the next morning fol- 
low him, because there was a place of as great safety and 
sufficiency which his Brother had found out neer the 
River. The safety of it consisted not onely in that 
... it is a most goodly and plentifull Countrey and yet 
Inhabited not with one Spaniard or any for the Span- 
iards, but especially in that it lyeth among a great many 
of goodly Hands full of Trees, where, though there be 
Channels, yet there are such Rocks and shoales that no 
Man can enter by night without great danger, nor by 
day without discovery; whereas our Ship might lye 
hidden within the Trees. 

"The next day [September 14] we arrived at the 
River appointed, where we found the Symerons, ac- 
cording to promise; the rest of their number were a 
mile up in a Wood by the Rivers side. There, after 
we had given them entertainment and received good 
testimonies of their joy and good will towards us, we 
tooke two more of them into our Pinnaces, leaving our 



104 The Boy's Drake 

two men with the rest of theirs to march by land to 
another River called Rio Guana, with intent there to 
meet with another Company of Symerons which were 
now in the Mountains. So we departed that day from 
Rio Diego with our Pinnaces towards our Ship, mar- 
velling that she followed not as was appointed." 

Back at the lair two days after, the "Pascha" was 
found still there, and in a woful condition. She had 
been unable to follow because she had been "much 
spoyled" by a tempest that had struck the place not 
long after the departure of the pinnaces. The next 
two days were spent in trimming her. Then the next 
day ship and all abandoned Port Plenty, and "with 
wary Pilotage" were directed safely by a pinnace that 
had gone ahead, through the best channel "amongst 
the shoals and sandy islands" to the Rio Diego an- 
chorage. 

This new secret haven of Rio Diego lay westward 
"neere about five leagues from the Cativaas [Catives] 
betwixt an Hand and the Maine": the island being off 
the main "not above foure Cables length"; small, 
comprising only about three acres of ground, flat, and 
"very full of Trees and Bushes." Here the ship was 
moored, and the company set diligently at work to 
make themselves "quiet in the new-found Road," 

They had been here scarcely three days when the two 
men whom Drake had sent with the Cimaroon nego- 
tiators to their fellows in the mountains, appeared with 
the negotiators and others in sight on the main. The 
others were a group of twelve from the Cimaroons of 



Roaming Off the Spanish Main 105 

the mountains. The delegations were heartily wel- 
comed and brought across, "to their great comfort and 
our content: they, rejoicing that they should have some 
fit opportunity to wreake their wrongs on the Span- 
iards: we hoping that now our Voyage should be bet- 
tered." 

Then followed, perhaps on the deck of the "Pascha," 
and doubtless with all the ceremony of which Drake 
had shown himself on occasions of moment so fond, a 
conference wherein the Cimaroon spokesmen gave in- 
formation that necessitated further changes in the plan 
of campaign: "At our first meeting, when our Captaine 
had moved them to shew him the meanes which they 
had to furnish him with Gold and Silver, they answered 
plainly, that had they knowne Gold and been his desire, 
they could have satisfied him with store, which for the 
present they could not doe, because the Rivers, in which 
they had sunke great store which they had taken from 
the Spaniards, rather to despite them then [than] for love 
of Gold, were now so high that they could not get it out 
of such depths for him; and because the Spaniards in 
these rainy Moneth[s], doe not use [are not accustomed] 
to carry their Treasure by land. This answer, although 
it were somewhat unlooked for, yet nothing discon- 
tented us, but rather persuaded us farther of their 
honest and faithfull meaning towards us." 

With this prospect of five months of possible inaction 
with the new allies, Drake's problem was how to keep 
all occupied and contented during the long wait. First, 
the island should be fortified and a village built up 



io6 The Boy's Drake 

on such a scale that both his men and his allies would 
be kept busy quite a while. In the meantime he would 
with his pinnaces make excursions along the main, or 
at sea, to harass the enemy and pick up what prizes he 
might. 

So "Our Captaine to entertaine these five Moneths, 
commanded all our Ordnance and Artillery a shoare, 
with all our other Provisions: sending his Pinnaces to 
the Maine to bring over great Trees to make a Fort 
upon the same Hand, for the planting of all our Ord- 
nance therein, and for our safeguard, if the Enemy in all 
this time should chance to come." Into this work the 
Cimaroons threw themselves with heartiness, and with 
skilful hands. "Our Symerons cut down Palmito 
boughes and branches, and with wonderful speed raised 
up two large Houses for all our Company." The fort 
was made, "by reason of the place triangle-wise with 
maine [large] Timber and Earth, of which the Trench 
yeelded us good store, so that we made it thirteen foot 
in length." They named it Fort Diego, as they had 
named the port, in compliment to their ever-faithful 
negro, Diego. 

When this work was well under way, a fortnight after 
the occupation of the island, Drake set out with three 
pinnaces again to "goe for Carthagene." 



XI 
AGAIN BEFORE CARTAGENA 

BROTHER JOHN was put in charge of the island 
to govern those to be left behind with the 
Cimaroons during Drake's absence, and to su- 
perintend the building of the fort. When, on a bright, 
early October morning Drake set sail, Brother John, 
in the remaining pinnace, accompanied him out of the 
port, John being bound for the Catives, where he was to 
get a load of planks, to utilise in the platform for the 
guns of the fort, from the Magdalena prize, left at the 
Catives, which had been cast ashore in a storm and 
broken up. Outside the port the brothers parted, with 
affectionate calls of good luck to each other, the one 
sailing eastward, the other westward: and they were 
destined, as it happened, never to meet again in this 
world. 

As usual, the narrator accompanied Drake, so that 
we have the story of this adventure also at first hand. 
It is a story more exciting and more crowded with inci- 
dent than that of the first demonstration before Carta- 
gena. It tells of adroit manoeuvrings on both sides, 
Spanish and English; of more daring performances by 

107 



io8 The Boy's Drake 

Drake; more fighting; prize-taking, astonishing achieve- 
ments; of triumphs and of hardships. 

"That night [the first out] we came to an He which 
hee called Spurkite Hand because we found there great 
store of such a kinde of Bird in shape, but very deli- 
cate, of which we killed and rosted many, staying there 
till the next day mid-noone when we departed thence: 
and about foure a clocke recovered a big Hand in our 
way, where we staying [stayed] all night by reason that 
there was great store of Fish, and especially of a great 
kinde of Shel-fish of a foot long, we called them Whelkes. 
The next morning we were cleere of these Hands and 
Shoales, and haled off* into the Sea. About foure 
dayes after, neere the Hands of Saint Bernards [San Bar- 
nardo], we chased two Frigates a shore: and recover- 
ing one of the Hands, made our abode there some two 
dayes to wash our Pinnaces and rake off the Fish. 
Thence we went towards Tolou, and that day landed 
neer the Town in a Garden, where we found certaine 
Indians, who delivered us their Bowes and Arrowes 
[to show their friendliness] and gathered for us such 
Fruit as the Garden did yeeld being many sorts of dainty 
Fruits and Roots, still contenting [paying] them for 
that we received." 

Drake's principal intent in "taking" this place, and, 
indeed, in going again for Cartagena, was further to 
learn what he might of the state of the country and of 
the movements of the fleets. "Hence we departed 
presently and rowed towards Chares ha the Hand of 
Carthagene, and entred in at Bocha Chica [the Little 



Again Before Cartagena 109 

Mouth]; and having the winde large, we sailed in 
towards the Citie, and let fall our Grappers [grappling- 
irons] betwixt the Hand and the Maine, right over 
against the goodly Garden Hand." 

The company were eager to land, but Drake re- 
strained them. He knew it might be dangerous, for 
the Spanish officials were wont to send soldiers to this 
point whenever they were aware of "men of warre" 
being upon the coast. And his caution was warranted, 
for: "within three houres after, [when] passing by the 
point of the Hand, we had a volley of an hundred shot 
from them; yet there was but one of our men hurt." 
Such was their warm reception. At eventide they 
prudently put to sea beyond the danger line. The next 
day they took their first prize: 

"The day following, being some two leagues off the 
Harbour, we tooke a Barke, and found that the Cap- 
taine and his wife with the better sort of the passengers 
had forsaken her and were gone a shoare in their Gun- 
delow [gondola or ship's boat]: by occasion whereof we 
boorded without resistance, though they were very well 
provided with Swords and Targets, and some small 
shot, besides Iron Bases [small guns]. She was about 
fifty tunne, having ten Marines, five or six Negroes, 
great store of Sope [soap] and Sweet-meats, bound for 
Saint Domingo and Carthagene. This Captaine left 
behind him a silk Ancient [flag] with his Armes, as 
might be thought in hasty departing. The next morn- 
ing we sent all the Company [of the captured bark] 
a shoare to seek their Masters, saving a young Negrito 



no The Boy's Drake 

[negro child] of three or foure years old which we brought 
away, but kept the Barke, and in her bore into the 
mouth of Carthagene Harbour, where we anchored." 

So at the outer harbour's entrance they rode placidly 
with their prize and awaited events. Nothing hap- 
pened till afternoon. 

Then ''certaine horse-men came down to the point 
of the Wood side, and with the Scrivano [king's notary] 
forementioned [one of the two captured at the first at- 
tempt upon Cartagena] came towards our Barke [the 
prize] with a Flag of Truce, desiring of our Captaine 
safe conduct for his comming and going. The which 
being granted, he came aboord us, giving our Captaine 
great thankes for his manifold favours, &c. [alluding 
to Drake's treatment of him and his associate on the 
previous occasion of their capture and release], promis- 
ing that night before day break, to bring as much 
victuall as they [Drake's party] would desire, what shift 
soever he made or what danger soever he incurred of 
Law and punishment. But this fell out to be nothing 
but a device of the Governour [of Cartagena] forced 
upon the Scrivano, to delay time, til they might pro- 
vide themselves of sufficient strength to entrap us; for 
which this fellow, by his smooth speech, was thought a 
fit meane [means]. So by Sunne rising, when we per- 
ceived his words but words, we put to Sea to the West- 
ward of the Hand some three leagues off, where we lay 
at Hull [lay-by] the rest of all that day and night." 

The next day, in the afternoon, apparently again ap- 
proaching the harbour's mouth, they sighted two small 



Again Before Cartagena iii 

"frigates" that had come out of Cartagena, and 
straightway gave them chase. Both were bound for 
Santo Domingo and carried only ballast. They were 
taken within less than three miles of the city and with 
the captors came to anchor ''within Saker [small 
cannon] shot," or about three-quarters of a mile "of the 
East Bulwarke." Their crews entreating to be set 
ashore, Drake gave them the larger frigate's ship's boat 
and dismissed them. Now Drake was before the city 
with three Spanish prizes. 

The next was a day of action. In the morning 
another party, or the same that had appeared before 
with the smooth-tongued notary, came down to "the 
Wester point," a headland at the mouth of the Boca 
Chica, with a flag of truce. Drake manned one of his 
pinnaces and rowed to meet them. But when the pin- 
nace was within a cable's length of the shore the party 
fled to the woods, apparently as if fearful of her guns. 
This, however, was a ruse, to draw the Englishmen 
ashore and perhaps into ambush. Drake recognized it 
as such and dared them. Ordering the grapnel cast out 
from the stern he veered the pinnace to shore, and so 
soon as she touched the sand he alone leapt out in the 
Spaniards' sight, "to declare that he durst set his foot 
a land." While "he had not sufficient forces to con- 
quer them," yet he would have them understand that 
"he had sufficient judgment to take heed of them." 
Then he returned to the pinnace, when she was hauled 
off the shore on her grapnel, and so rode to await the 
next move. 



112 The Boy's Drake 

This was presently made. Reappearing at the water- 
side, the Spaniards despatched a youth with a message 
to the Enghshmen. The lad swam out to the pin- 
nace and was taken aboard. The message was a re- 
quest, as from the governor, *' to know what our intent 
was to stay thus upon the Coast.?" To this Drake 
made the audacious reply that "he meant to traffique 
with them, for he had Tin, Pewter, Cloth, and other 
Merchandise that they needed." The youth swam 
back with this answer, and soon returned with another 
message — "That the King had forbidden to traffique 
with any forraigne Nation for any Commodities ex- 
cept Powder and Shot, of which if we had any store 
they would be his [Drake's] Merchants." Back swam 
the lad with this retort: "He [Drake] was come from 
his Country to exchange his Commodities for Gold and 
Silver, and is not purposed to return without his errand. 
They [the Spaniards] were like (in his opinion) to 
have little rest if that by faire meanes they would not 
traffique with him." This time the young messenger 
was rewarded for his aquatic performances with a 
present from Drake, of a "faire Shirt"; and rolling 
the garment about his head Indian fashion, he 
"swamme" back for the last time, "very speedily" and 
gayly. Thus ended the parley. No further word came 
from the shore, although Drake remained at his post 
ready to receive any message through the rest of the 
day. Then toward dark the company returned aboard 
their captured frigates, and setting a watch for the 
night "reposed" themselves. 



Again Before Cartagena 113 

Another day of action followed. "The next morn- 
ing the winde which had beene Westerly In the evening 
altered to the Eastward. About the dawning of the 
day we espied two Sayles turning toward us; where- 
upon our Captalne weighed with his Pinnaces, leaving 
the two Frigates unmaned. But when we were come 
somewhat nigh them the wInde calmed, and we were 
fame to row towards them, till that [upon one] ap- 
proaching very nigh we saw many heads peering over 
boord. For, as we perceived, these two Frigates were 
mand and set forth out of Cartagene to fight with us, 
and [or] at least to Impeach or busle us, whiles [whilst] 
by some meanes or other they might recover the Frig- 
ates from us. But our Captalne prevented both their 
drifts. For commanding John Oxnam [Oxenham] to 
stay with the one pinnace to entertain [engage] these 
two men of warre, himself in the other [pinnace] made 
such speed [back] that he gate to his Frigates which he 
had left at Anchor, and caused the Spaniards [appar- 
ently another party] who in the meane time had gotten 
aboord [them] in [from] a small Canow (thinking to 
have towed them within the danger [protection] of their 
shot) " to hasten off quicker than they had come, some 
swimming to land and leaving their weapons behind 
them. Then, considering that he could not man 
these frigates, Drake sunk one and burnt the other, so 
giving the Spaniards " to understand by this that we 
perceived their secret practices,'* In other words, their 
game. "This being done he [Drake] returned to John 
Oxnam, who all this while lay by the men of warre 
without proffering of fight." 



114 The Boy's Drake 

Just as Drake's pinnace had joined Oxenham's the 
wind came in briskly from the sea, and the two pinnaces 
being between the shore and the "men of warre" they 
were forced to bear room into the harbour before the 
latter. This proceeding was, "to the great joy of the 
Spaniards who beheld it, in supposing that we would 
still have fled before them." But as soon as the pin- 
naces were well inside the harbour and felt smooth 
water, and were getting the wind, they suddenly opened 
fire upon the war-ships. Thus "we fought with them 
upon the advantage, so that after a few shot ex- 
changed, and a storme rising, they were contented 
to presse no neerer. Therefore as they let fall their 
Anchors we presently let drop our Grapners in the 
winde of them, which the Spanish Souldiers seeing, 
considering the disadvantage of the winde, the likely- 
hood of the storme to continue, and small hope of 
doing any good, they were glad to retire themselves to 
the Towne." 

The Englishmen, however, since the storm was in- 
creasing, remained at their temporary anchorage. And 
here they rode through the next four days, suffering not 
a Httle discomfort from "great cold by reason we had 
such sore raines with Westerly winde, and so little suc- 
cour in our Pinnaces." On the fifth day they had 
another skirmish, showing that the Spaniards ashore 
were ever watchful of them: "There came in a Frigate 
from the sea, which, seeing us make towards her runne 
her selfe a shoare, unhanging her Rudder and taking 
away her Sayles, that she might not easily be carried 
away. But when we were come up to her we per- 



Again Before Cartagena 115 

ceived about a hundred Horse and Foot, with their 
Furniture [weapons], come downe to the point of the 
Maine: where we interchanged some shot with them. 
One of our great shot past so neere a brave Cavalier of 
theirs that thereby they were occasioned to advise them- 
selves, and to retreat into the Woods, where they might 
sufficiently defend and rescue the Frigate from us, and 
annoy us also if we stayed long about her." 

At this Drake concluded to go to sea again. Pass- 
ing out through the ''Little Mouth," he purposed to 
make for "the Rocks called Las Seranas" some "two 
leagues off at Sea," where, with the masts of the pin- 
naces down, he might ride, hidden under the Rocks, 
till fair weather returned as he or his men had "usu- 
ally done aforetime." But when they were reached the 
sea had "so mightily growne" that it was impossible 
to anchor beneath them, and he was forced to return to 
Cartagena harbour. And here his tiny squadron were 
obliged to remain through six more days of bad weather, 
"notwithstanding the Spaniards, grieved greatly at our 
aboard [abode] there so long, put an other device in 
practise to endanger us." 

This "device," set in operation on the sixth day, was 
the most elaborate that the Spaniards had attempted, 
and led to the finishing fight in which Drake skilfully 
displayed his naval knowledge. "They sent forth a 
great Shallop, a fine Gundeloe, and a great Canow, with 
certaine Spaniards with shot, and many Indians with 
poysoned Arrowes, as it seemed with intent to begin 
some fight, and then to flye. For as soone as we rowed 



Ii6 The Boy's Drake 

towards them and enterchanged shot, they presently 
retyred and went a shoare into the Woods, where an 
Ambush of some sixty shot were laid for us; besides 
two Pinnaces and a Frigate warping towards us, which 
were Mand as the rest. They attempted us very 
boldly, being assisted by those others which from out 
of the Wood had gotten aboard the Gundeloe and 
Canow, and seeing us bearing from them (which we 
did in respect of the Ambuscado) they incouraged them- 
selves and assured their fellowes of the day. 

''But our Captaine weighing this their attempt, and 
being out of danger of their shot from the Land, com- 
manding his other Pinnace to be brought ahead of 
him, and to let fall their Grapners each ahead of the 
other, environed both the Pinnace with Bonnets, as for 
a close fight, and then wheaved [waved] them aboord 
them." That is, the two pinnaces were brought close 
together, with one ahead of the other, and their sides 
rigged with bonnets or "war girdles," made of the nar- 
row lengths of canvas that were laced to the sails to give 
them greater speed: thus ready, Drake waved a signal 
to the Spaniards to come on and attack if they would. 
But instead, "they kept themselves upon their Oares 
at Calliver shot distance, spending Powder apace, as 
we did, some two or three houres. We had one of our 
Men onely wounded in that Fight; what they had is 
unknowne to us, but we saw their Pinnace shot thorow 
[through] in divers places, and the Powder of one of them 
tooke on fire. Whereupon we waighed, and intend- 
ing to beare roome, to over-runne them: which they 



Again Before Cartagena 117 

perceiving, and thinking that we would have boorded 
them, rowed away amaine to the defence which they 
had in the Wood; the rather, because they were dis- 
appointed of their helpe that they expected from the 
Frigate which was warping towards us, but by reason 
of the much Winde that blew, could not come to op- 
pose us or succour them." 

So this device failed. And with its failure Drake 
finally withdrew. 

Seeing that now he was "so notably made known" 
m these parts, and his victuals growing scarce, he de- 
cided to cruise in other directions. The wind "con- 
tinuing always Westerly," he could not for the present 
return to Fort Diego. But first he would replenish his 
boats with fresh provisions. Accordingly, so soon as 
the weather "waxed somewhat better" he set off again 
eastward along the coast for the Magdalena River, 
where before had been found such "great store of 
victuals." 



XII 
OFF SANTA MARTA 

ARRIVED at the Magdalena they found, to their 
dismay, where there had been abundance be- 
fore, ''bare nothing." There were even no 
people left. All, by order of the Spanish authorities, 
had driven their cattle away and had taken to the 
mountains, so that should Drake or his men again 
appear they might not be relieved. It was really a 
keen disappointment, for much of their diminishing 
stock of food had been spoiled by the foul weather 
at sea and the rains in Cartagena harbour. But while 
they were bemoaning this hard luck, a Spanish frigate 
was descried at sea. The sight revived them, for if she 
could be caught they might find provisions upon her 
sufficient for their immediate needs. "Therefore it 
may easily be guessed how much we laboured to re- 
cover her," says the narrator. But alas! "When we 
had boorded her and understood that she had neither 
Meat nor Money, but that she was bound for Rio 
Grande [Magdalena] to take in Provision, our great 
hope converred [was converted] into griefe." 

They got on with their short allowance as best they 
could for the next seven or eight days while they 

ii8 



Off Santa Marta 119 

cruised farther eastward, now "bearing roome for 
Santa Martha," hoping to find some shipping or "Lim- 
pets on the Rocks, or succour against the Storme in 
that good Harbour." But hard luck still pursued 
them. "Being arrived, and seeing no Shipping, we 
anchored under the Wester point where is high land, 
and, as we thought, free in safety from the Towne, 
which is in the bottome of the Bay: not intending to 
land there, because we knew that it was fortified and 
that they had intelligence of us. But the Spaniards 
knowing us to be Men of Warre, and misliking that 
we should shroud [take shelter, or harbour] under their 
Rockes without their leave, had conveyed some thirty 
or forty shot among the ClifFes, which annoyed us so 
spitefully, and so unrevengedly (for that they lay hid- 
den behinde the Rockes, but we lay open to them) 
that we were soone weary of our Harbour, and en- 
forced, for all the Storme without and want within, to 
put to Sea." As in passing out they came "open of 
the Town," the exultant Spaniards, for a farewell, sent 
them a "Calverin shot" from which they barely es- 
caped, for it fell between the pinnaces. 

At the moment that this parting shot dropped the 
pinnaces were close together, while the leaders were 
conferring as to the best course next to pursue. Their 
position was growing more and more hazardous, and 
one of the pinnaces had become leaky. All of the com- 
pany were discomforted. The majority were for land- 
ing somewhere on the main and taking their chances. 
But Drake would not agree to this. He thought it 



120 The Boy's Drake 

better to bear up toward Rio de la Hacha or Curasao 
where they might have plenty without great resistance, 
and very likely come upon some victual-ships. The 
men in the other pinnace, the leaky one, answered 
loyally that they "would willingly follow him thorow 
[through] the World; but in this they could not see how 
either their Pinnace should live in that Sea without 
being eaten up in that storme, or they themselves [be] 
able to endure so long time with so slender Provision 
as they had, viz onely one Gammon of Bacon and 
thirty pound of Bisket for eighteen Men." Drake 
cheerfully replied that they were better provided than 
himself, for he had "but one Gammon of Bacon and 
forty pound of Bisket for his twenty-foure men." 
Since he was undaunted by his condition, he "doubted 
not but they would take such part as He did, and will- 
ingly depend upon Gods Almighty Providence, which 
never faileth them that trust in him." 

With this pious injunction he brought the con- 
ference to an abrupt end, and hoisting his foreisail he 
set his course for Curasao. This "the rest perceiving, 
with sorrowfull hearts in respect of the weake Pinnace, 
yet desirous to follow their Captain, consented to take 
the same course." And behold! "We had not sailed 
past three leagues but we had espied a sayle plying to 
the Westward with her two courses [sails hanging from 
the lower yards] to our great joy!" They "vowed to- 
gether" that they would have her at any cost. She 
proved to be a Spanish ship of above ninety tons. 
When within hailing distance they "wheaved a maine" 



Off Santa Marta 121 

(waved amain) to her, the signal to surrender. She 
"despised'* their summons and "shot off her Ord- 
nance'* at them. The sea was running high so they 
could not then attempt to board her, but would follow 
her till fairer weather should quiet the waters. Ac- 
cordingly, making "fit small saile" (setting the small 
storm sails), they kept her company for some hours, 
when it "pleased God, after a great shower, to send us 
a reasonable calme." Now they might use their guns 
and "approach her with pleasure." The assault was 
made with a dash, and "in a short time we had taken 
her." She was found to be handsomely laden with 
" Victuall well powdred [salted] and dryed," which these 
devout buccaneers "accepted" with thanksgiving, "as 
sent us of Gods great mercy." Strange dispensation 
of Providence to robbers! 

Toward nightfall the wind blew up afresh and they 
were obliged, with their prize, to ply off and on in the 
again tempestuous sea through that night. Early next 
morning Drake sent oflf Ellis Hixom in charge of 
the larger pinnace (Drake himself probably being on 
the prize), to search along the coast for some reason- 
ably safe harbour into which they could temporarily 
put. Hixom found a little one some ten or twelve 
leagues to the east of Santa Marta, which answered 
their purpose, having good holding ground and suffi- 
cient water to float the prize; and upon his return 
with this report the squadron sailed thither. Arrived 
within the haven, Drake assembled his prisoners of the 
prize and addressed them very briefly and very prac- 



122 The Boy's Drake 

tically. If, he told them, they would bring his com- 
pany to "Water and fresh Victuals," or if through their 
means what he required was obtained from the Indians 
inhabiting the neighbourhood, he would give them 
their liberty and all their "apparrel" (clothes and 
other personal belongings) that he had taken. His 
proposition was gladly accepted, and the rest of the 
day was spent industriously in watering, wooding, and 
further provisioning the squadron. The Indian in- 
habitants, who, it seemed, were "clothed and gov- 
erned by a Spaniard which dwelt in the next Towne 
not past a league off," practically the Spaniard's 
slaves, were "given content and satisfaction" for all 
that they cheerfully provided. Upon the completion 
of the work, toward night, Drake called all his men 
aboard the pinnaces and sailed off with the prize, 
leaving the prisoners, as he had promised, behind 
ashore, "to their great content": who, courteous, 
after the Spanish manner to the last, "acknowledged 
that our Captaine did them a farre greater favour in 
setting them freely at liberty then [than] he had done 
them displeasure in taking their Ship." 

Again at sea, and now taking their course directly 
as might be for Fort Diego, fresh troubles came upon 
the company. A sickness which had "begun to kindle 
amongst us two or three dayes before, did this day 
shew it selfe in Charles Glub, one of our Quarter-mas- 
ters, a very tall man, and a right good Mariner," and, 
to the great grief of all he speedily died of it. The 
strange malady was imputed to the cold which the men 



Off Santa Marta 123 

had taken, lying without succour in the pinnaces, 
Many were touched with it, but "it pleased God" to 
restore to health all save the tall quartermaster. The 
disease is thought to have been pleurisy or pneumonia. 
Happily, the day after the death of the quarter- 
master and his burial in the sea opened bright with 
fair weather, and all were heartened again. The wind, 
however, continued contrary, and since, till it changed, 
the progress of the squadron must be slow, Drake 
ordered the "Minion," the smallest, of the pinnaces, 
to hasten for the fort ahead of the others to an- 
nounce their coming; and particularly to give his 
order to have things there put in readiness so that upon 
his arrival an immediate start might be made for the 
land expedition if any news of the plate fleet had come. 
Should the "Minion's" men need refreshment before 
reaching Fort Diego, he advised that they take "Saint 
Bernardo" (San Barnardo), on their way, and help 
themselves to "such portion as they thought good" of 
the wines that had been taken from prizes and were 
there hidden in the sands. "Within a seven night" 
after the "Minion's" departure, Drake and the rest 
had come to San Barnardo. Here they tarried some 
hours refreshing themselves, but not with much of the 
hidden wine. For it was found that the "enemy" 
had visited the place and had carried off the whole 
store save twelve "botijos" (Spanish pots). Four or 
five days later they were arrived safe at Fort Diego, not 
long behind the "Minion," and Drake was heartily 
welcomed back after an absence of two months. 



124 The Boy's Drake 

Sad tidings, however, came with his welcome. His 
beloved brother John was dead. He had been slain 
in an attempt to board and capture a Spanish frigate 
at sea, only two days after Drake had parted with him 
at the mouth of the port when starting on the pres- 
ent venture. The affair had occurred on John's re- 
turn trip from the Catives. "The manner of it," as 
Drake was told, and the narrator relates, "was this: 
When they saw this Frigate at Sea as they were going 
[returning] towards their Fort with Plankes to make 
the Platformes, the Company [John's crew] were very 
importunate on him to give chase and set upon this 
Frigate which they deemed had beene a fit booty for 
them. But he told them that they wanted weapons to 
assaile: they knew not how the Frigate was pro- 
vided; they had their boat laden with plankes to finish 
that his Brother had commanded. But when this 
would not satisfie them, but that still they urged him 
with words and supposals [taunts]: * If you will needs,' 
said he, 'adventure, it shall never be said that I will 
be hindermost; neither shall you report to my Brother 
that you lost your Voyage [chance to take a prize] by 
any cowardice you found in me.' Thereupon every 
man shifted as they might for the time, and heaving 
their plankes over board, tooke them such poore 
weapons as they had: viz. a broken pointed Rapier, 
one old Visgee, and a rusty Caliver; John Drake tooke 
the Rapier, and made a Gantlet of his Pillow, Rich- 
ard Allen the Visgee, both standing in the head of the 
Pinnace, called the Eion^ Robert Cluich tooke the 



Off Santa Marta 125 

Caliver: and so [they] boarded. But they found the 
Frigate armed round about with a close fight [old naval 
term signifying an armed grating or netting between 
the main-mast and fore-mast] of Hides, full of Pikes 
and Calivers, which were discharged in their faces, 
and deadly wounded those that were in the Fore-ship, 
John Drake in the belly, and Richard Allen in the 
head. But notwithstanding their wounds, they with 
Oares shifted off the Pinnace, got cleare of the Frigate, 
and with all haste recovered their Ship [at Fort Diego], 
where within an houre after this young man of great 
hope ended his dayes, greatly lamented of all the Com- 
pany.'* 

Young Allen also died of his wounds. It was he, so 
it was said, who had been foremost in daring John 
Drake to make the assault. It was all a rash, fool- 
hardy performance, but only one of many exhibitions 
of the reckless daring and exuberant spirit of these 
lusty young English seamen, ardent for adventure. 

No word of the plate fleet had yet been heard by the 
Cimaroon scouts. So Drake decided to keep secretly 
close in Fort Diego till the wind came. It was now 
early December, and since they might have to remain 
here inactive for an indefinite time, he proceeded to 
make things comfortable and pleasant for all. From 
the well-stocked warehouses an abundance of good 
food was supplied their tables, while the hunters daily 
enriched them with game from the woods, "wild 
Hogges, Pheasants, and Guanas." All continued in 
good trim and good health for about a month. Then 



126 The Boy's Drake 

at the beginning of January half a score suddenly fell 
ill with a mysterious disease, and most of these died 
within two or three days after the attack. It ran 
through the company, and thirty were down with it at 
one time. They called it the calenture, or hot fever, 
but it is believed to have been what we know as yellow 
fever. It was attributed to a sudden change from 
cold to heat, or, what was more likely, to the drinking 
of brackish water, a quantity of which one of the pin- 
naces had taken at the mouth of the river "through the 
sloth of their men," who were too lazy to row farther 
in where the water was good. 

Among those who died was Drake's other brother, 
the young Joseph. The lad died in his arms. With 
his usual energy and resourcefulness, Drake deter- 
mined to probe the mysterious disease, to ascertain 
how it might be remedied, and to allay an incipient 
panic among the company. That there might be no 
protest — for dissection of the human body was in that 
day commonly regarded as a sort of sacrilege — he gave 
up his brother's body for this purpose, and himself 
directed the examination. This the narrator quaint- 
ly, and with a touch of pathos, remarks was "the 
first and last experiment that our Captaine made of 
Anatomy in this Voyage." The surgeon who per- 
formed the autopsy died four days after. Not from 
the fever, however. He had taken that and recovered 
a month before. It was an overdose of his own medi- 
cine, a purge of his concoction that carried him off. 
Or, as the narrator puts it: "An over-bold practice 



Off Santa Marta 127 

which he would needs make upon himselfe, by receiv- 
ing an over-strong Purgation of his own device: after 
which taken he never spoke." And his boy, from 
tasting the stuff merely, lost his health and did not re- 
cover it "till he saw England" again. The total num- 
ber that died of the fever was twenty-eight, a pretty 
serious drain upon the little company. With these 
gone, and three having previously died in fights or of 
wounds, and one from exposure at sea, they now mus- 
tered, all told, only forty-two. Several of these re- 
mained some time on the sick-list. Because of the 
many deaths from this awful scourge the survivors 
gave their isle the grewsome name of "Slaughter 
Island." 

Meanwhile, as the company were contending with 
the fever, the Cimaroons had been ranging "the coun- 
try up and downe" between Fort Diego and Nombre- 
de-Dios, to "learn what they might for us"; and at 
length, on the last day but one of January, the scouts 
brought word that the plate fleet were certainly arrived 
at Nombre-de-Dios. To verify this report Drake im- 
mediately despatched the pinnace "Lyon" to the "sea- 
most Hand of the Cativaas": for, as he reasoned, if 
the plate fleet had actually come the provision-frigates 
would be hastening to Nombre-de-Dios to supply them. 
Within a few days the "Lyon" " descried that she had 
been sent for." Sighting a frigate, she chased, boarded, 
and took her: found her to be a provision-ship from 
Tolou for Nombre-de-Dios, laden with maize, hens, 
and pompions, and having a number of passengers — 



128 The Boy's Drake 

"one woman and twelve men of whom one was the 
Scrivano [king's notary] of Tolou," who confirmed 
"the whole truth" of the fleet's arrival. Prize and 
prisoners were brought by the stout little "Lyon" 
triumphantly back with her, and all was now bustle 
about the Fort. The Cimaroons would have taken 
the prisoners and cut their throats out of hand, "to 
revenge their [the Cimaroons'] wrongs and injuries 
which the Spanish Nation had done them." The 
savages "sought daily by all meanes they could to get 
them of our Captaine." Of course, he would listen to 
no such bloodthirsty proposition. On the contrary, 
he would protect them to the utmost against the deadly 
hatred of their implacable enemies. Accordingly, in 
contrast with these hostile demonstrations, he took 
care to treat them "very courteously," and he pro- 
vided them with a constant guard. While, however, 
he thus successfully held the savages from their prey, 
it was all done diplomatically, without antagonising 
his alHes. The narrator tells us that he really "per- 
swaded them not to touch them [the prisoners], or give 
them ill countenance while they were in his charge." 
Still, however effective this persuasion may have been, 
he was careful to keep the guard about them unbroken, 
and fully to provide for their safety during his absence 
on the new expedition. For when the preparations were 
complete, Ellis Hixom, who was to be left in charge of 
the fort and of those remaining behind, found himself 
especially charged to guard the prisoners. They had 
by that time been put aboard the prize which had been 



Off Santa Marta 129 

"haled a shoare to the Hand" to be used as a store 
house and as their prison. 

At length, on Shrove-Tuesday, the third day of Feb- 
ruary, the start was made for the long and venturesome 
march. Drake's last word to Hixom was, "straight 
charge in any case not to trust any Messenger that 
should come in his name with any Tokens, unlesse he 
brought his [Drake's] hand-writing: which he knew 
could not be counterfeited by the Symerons or Span- 
iards" 

So they departed, a band of forty-eight, only eighteen 
Englishmen, bound for the isthmus, with the avowed 
object of seizing a treasure train on the Panama road 
to Nombre-de-Dios. 



XIII 

ON THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA 

" "W "IT TE were in all forty-eight, of which eighteene 
^ Y onely were English^ the rest were Symerons." 
So the narrator opens his story of this advent- 
ure, in which, as usual, he had part. The remaining 
twenty-four English, who were left at Fort Diego, with 
Ellis Hixom in command, included those convalescing 
from the fever, and a few "whole men,'* well ones, on 
the "Pascha" "to keepe the Ship and tend the Sicke, 
and guard the Prisoners" on the prize. 

The thirty Cimaroons of the expedition were the 
willing burden-bearers. Each of them carried, be- 
sides his arms, a heavy pack of provisions, thus 
supplying the Englishmen's "want of carriage in so 
long a March," and relieving them of everything but 
their "Furniture" — accoutrements and weapons. The 
quantity of provisions taken was limited, the Cima- 
roons having promised to obtain, "with their Arrowes," 
plenty of game for the party along the way, and this 
promise they nobly fulfilled. 

The Cimaroon arrows much interested the narrator, 
who fortunately interrupts his narrative to give a 

130 



On the Isthmus of Panama 131 

minute description of them; and from it we get a 
pretty fair idea of the native weapons of that time. 
Each Cimaroon was provided with two sorts, "the one 
to defend himselfe and offend the Enemy, the other to 
kill his Victuals. These for fight are somewhat like 
the Scottish Arrow, onely somewhat longer, and 
headed with Iron, Wood, or Fishbones. But the Ar- 
rowe for Provision are of three sorts: the first serveth 
to kill any great Beast neere hand, as Oxe, Stag, or 
wild Boare; this hath a head of Iron of a pound and a 
halfe weight, shaped in forme like the head of a Javelin 
or Boare-spear, as sharpe as any Knife, making so 
large and deep a wound as can hardly be beleeved of 
him that hath not seene it. The second serveth for 
lesser Beasts, and hath a head of three quarters of a 
pound: this he most usually shooteth. The third 
serveth for all manner of Birds: it hath a head of an 
ounce weight. And these heads, though they be of 
Iron onely, yet are they so cunningly tempered that 
they will continue a very good edge for a long time; 
and though they be turned sometimes, yet they will 
never or seldome breake. The necessity in which they 
[the Cimaroons] stand hereof continually, causeth them 
to have [hold] Iron in farre greater account than Gold: 
and no man among them is of greater estimation then 
[than] he that can most perfectly give this temper 
unto it." 

The narrative is then resumed. "Every day we were 
marching by Sun-rising. We continued till ten in the 
fore-noone, then resting [and taking the early dinner]. 



132 The Boy's Drake 

ever neere some River, till past twelve; [thereafter] we 
Marched till foure; and then, by some Rivers side, we 
reposed our selves in such Houses either we found pre- 
pared heretofore by them [the Cimaroons], when they 
travelled thorow these Woods, or they daily built for 
us in this manner: As soon as we came to a place 
where we intended to lodge, the Symerons presently, 
laying down their burthens, fell to cutting of Forkes 
or Posts and Poles or Rafters, and Palmito boughes, 
or Plantaine leaves, and with great speed set up to the 
number of six Houses. For every [one] of which they 
first fastened deepe into the ground three or foure great 
Posts with forkes; upon them they layd one Tran- 
some which was commonly about twenty foot, and 
made the sides in the manner of the roofes of our 
[English] Countrey Houses, thatching it close with those 
aforesaid Leaves, which keepe out water a long time; 
observing alwayes that in the lower ground where 
greater heat was, they left some three or foure foot 
open unthacht below, and made the Houses, or rather 
Roofes, so many foot the higher. But in the Hil[l]s, 
where the Ayre was more piercing and the nights 
colder, they made our Roomes always lower, and 
thatched them close to the ground, leaving only one 
Doore to enter at, and a lower-hole for a vent, in the 
middest of the roofe. In every [one] of these they made 
foure severall Lodgings, and three Fires, one in the 
middest and one at each end of every House, so that 
the Roome was most temperately warme, and nothing 
annoyed with Smoake, partly by reason of the nature 



On the Isthmus of Panama 133 

of the Wood which they use to burne yielding httle 
Smoake, partly by reason of their artificiall making of 
it: as firing the Wood, cut in length like our Billets, 
at the ends, and joyning them together so close that 
though no flame or fire did appeare, yet the heat con- 
tinued without intermission." Within these leafy huts 
the Englishmen found much comfort and their repose 
was sweet and wholesome. 

Their course, in the first stages of the journey, lay 
through the forests along the spurs of the Cordilleras. 
Near the rivers where they halted for the early din- 
ner and for rest through the hottest hours, or lodged 
at night, they gathered luscious fruits. There were 
"Mammeas, Guyavas [guavas], Palmitos, Finos [pine- 
apples], Oranges, Limons" in abundance, of which 
they could partake "with great pleasure and safety," 
if the indulgence was temperate; and "divers others" 
which the Cimaroons dissuaded them from eating 
except sparingly, and only after they had been "dry 
ro[a]sted," as "Plantans, Potatos, and such like." 
The Cimaroons* taking of game along the way was ever 
interesting. "As oft as by chance they found any 
wilde Swine, of which these Hills and Valleyes have 
store, they would ordinarily, six at a time, deliver their 
burthens [packs] to the rest of their fellowes, and pur- 
sue, kill, and bring away after us as much as they could 
carry and time permitted." One day they brought 
down an otter and prepared it to be dressed, whereat 
Drake marvelled: when Pedro, the chief Cimaroon, 
spoke up, ''Are you a man of Warre, and in warit, and 



134 The Boy's Drake 

yet doubt whether this he meat that hath blood P" Drake's 
reply is not recorded, but the narrator remarks, "Here- 
withall our Captaine rebuked him [Pself] secretly, that 
he had so slightly considered of it before." 

On the third day out the Cimaroons had brought 
the party to a "Towne of their owne," surprisingly 
fair and prosperous appearing. It lay some thirty- 
five leagues from Nombre-de-Dios, and forty-five 
leagues from Panama. It was "seated neer a faire 
River, on the side of a Hill, environed v^ith a dike of 
eight foot broad, and a thicke mud wall of ten foot 
high, sufficient to stop a sudden surprizer. It had 
one long and broad street lying East and West, and 
two other cross streets of lesse bredth and length. There 
was in it some five or six and fifty households, which 
were kept so cleane and sweet that not only the houses 
but the very streets were very pleasant to behold." So, 
too, the inhabitants were seen to live "very civilly and 
cleanely": for, "as soone as we came thither they [the 
Cimaroons of the party] washed themselves in the 
River, and changed their apparell." In compliment 
to their English guests they put on their best clothes, 
donned only on state occasions, which were "very fine 
and fitly made (as also their Women do weare) some- 
what after the Spanish fashion, though not so costly." 
Another than the narrator described the principal gar- 
ments as "long cotton gowns, either white or rusty 
black, shaped like our [the English] Carters' frocks." 
The town was "plentifully stored with many sorts of 
Beasts and Fowle, with plenty of Maiz and sundry 



On the Isthmus of Panama 135 

fruits." At this time it was well guarded against "the 
mischiefs" which the Spaniards would make against it. 
A continual Watch was kept in "foure parts three 
miles off" the settlement, to give warning of an ap- 
proach of the enemy. When they lived less carefully 
the Spaniards had "prevailed over them," but since the 
establishment of this Watch and their forays upon the 
Spaniards, "whom they kill like Beasts as often as they 
take .them in Woods," the town had been more secure. 

A night and a day were spent here most agreeably. 
The Cimaroons in the long evening talks told of fights 
with the Spaniards, and of "divers strange accidents" 
between them. There was talk also upon religion, and 
Drake tried his hand at their conversion to the Chris- 
tian faith. As the narrator records: "They have no 
kinde of Priests, only they hold the Crosse in great 
reputation; but at our Captaines perswasion they were 
contented to leave their Crosse, and to learne the Lords 
prayer, and to be instructed in some measure concern- 
ing Gods true worship." Doubtless this religious in- 
struction was taken complacently, if it did not sink 
deep into their savage minds, for they were eager fully 
to win the Englishmen's friendship and were prepared 
to make any sacrifice, temporarily at least, if so they 
might attain it. 

On the afternoon of the second day all resumed the 
forward march "with great good will." It was now 
necessary to proceed with more caution through the 
almost trailless woods. This was the order of the 
march: "Foure of those Symerons that best knew the 



136 The Boy's Drake 

wayes went about a mile distance before us, breaking 
boughes as they went to be a direction to those that 
followed; but with great silence, which they required 
us all to keepe. Then twelve of them were as it were 
our Vanguard, and other twelve our Reereward: we 
with their two Captaines in the midst/* As they thus 
tramped on the Englishmen were impressed with the 
marvellous wood-craft of their Cimaroon guides, while 
they were filled with admiration at the luxuriance of 
the tropical forest. A "speciall encouragement" was 
given them when they were told that there was "a 
Great Tree about the midway from which we might at 
once discerne the North Sea [the Atlantic] from whence 
we came, and the South Sea [the Pacific] whether 
[whither] we were going." 

The "height of the desired Hill" upon which this 
Great Tree stood was reached at ten o'clock on the 
forenoon of the fourth day out from the Cimaroon town. 
It was "a very high Hill, lying East and West like a 
ridge between the two Seas" — in fact, the highest ridge 
of the Cordilleras. 

Now Pedro, the Cimaroon chief, took Drake by the 
hand and "prayed him to follow him if he was desir- 
ous to see at once the two Seas which he had so long 
longed for." Thus he was led to a glade which the 
Cimaroons had cleared for one of their towns, wherein 
"that goodly and great high Tree" rose majestically. 
South and north of it the Cimaroons had cleared away 
other trees to open full the prospect from it. In its 
trunk they had cut "divers steps to ascend up neere 



On the Isthmus of Panama 137 

unto the top" where among the high branches, they 
had made "a convenient Bower" within which "tenne 
or twelve men might easily sit: and from thence we 
might without any difficulty plainly see th' Atlanticke 
Ocean whence now we came, & the South Atlantick 
so much desired." Near by, and about it, were "di- 
verse strong houses" marking the Cimaroon town, 
"that had been built long before, as well by other 
Symerons as by these." 

Then came that historic scene, when from this look- 
out Drake, the first Englishman as far as we know to 
sight it, feasted his eyes upon the blue Pacific, and 
uttered that memorable prayer for "life and leave once 
to sail an English ship" on its fabled waters — the scene 
pictured in all the biographies from the original sketch 
of our narrator. 

"After our Captaine had ascended to this Bower, 
with the chief Symeron, and having, as it pleased God, 
at that time by reason of the brize [breese] a very 
faire day, had seene that Sea of which he had heard 
such golden reports, he besought Almighty God of his 
goodnesse, to give him life and leave to Saile once in 
an English Ship in that Sea; and then calling up al[l] 
the rest of our men, acquainted John Oxnam [Oxen- 
ham] especially with this his petition and purpose, if it 
would please God to grant him that happiness: who 
understanding it, presently protested that unlesse our 
Captaine did beat him from his Company, he would 
follow him by God's grace. Thus all throughly satis- 
fied with the sight of the Seas descended." 



138 The Boy's Drake 

Sixty years before from this same ridge Vasco Nunez 
de Balboa, the discoverer and namer of the Pacific, had 
first looked down on the vast sea and had offered his 
prayer of thanksgiving to God for the sight. Doubt- 
less of that earlier scene here Drake had read or heard, 
and it may have inspired his own act and vow. But 
be that as it may, from this time forward, as Camden, 
the annalist, quaintly records, his mind "was pricked 
on continually, night and day, to perform that vow," 
till he was able to do so, and famously, as we shall 
later see. 

The early dinner followed the ceremony at the tree, 
and then the march was resumed. Two more days 
were spent on the tramp through the forest of vast 
trees, "without any great variety." At length the 
party emerged upon a champagne (flat open) coun- 
try: and were come on the west side of the Cheapo 
River to the famed savannahs, over which wild cattle 
roamed. Splendid sweeps of tall pampas grass spread 
out about them, wonderful to their English eyes. As 
the narrator noted, it grew "not onely in great length 
as the knot-grasse groweth in many places, but to 
such height that the Inhabitants are faine to burne it 
thrice in the year that it may be able to feed their 
Cattle, of which they have thousands." Its stalk was 
"as big as a great wheaten reed," with a blade "issu- 
ing from the top of it," and although the cattle fed 
freely upon it, "yet it groweth every day higher, untill 
the top is too high for an Oxe to reach." It was set 
afire when it had attained its full height and burned 



On the Isthmus of Panama 139 

off, "for a space of five or six miles together": and 
within three days after it had sprung up afresh, 
"Hke greene Corne": such was the "great fruitful- 
nesse of the soyle by reason of the evennesse of the 
day and night and the rich Dewes which fall every 
morning." 

Three days were occupied in the march over this 
"Champion." As they advanced, from its httle hills 
or mounds they had frequent glimpses, "five or six 
times a day," of the city of Panama — the old Panama, 
some four miles to the eastward of the present city, 
which a century later was destroyed by Morgan's buc- 
caneers. The last day they saw the ships riding in 
the road; and Drake "did behold and view the most 
of all that famous City, discerning the large Street 
which lyyeth directly from the Sea into the Land." 
When within a day's journey of it they changed the 
order of their march. They must proceed the rest of 
the way to their goal with "great silence and secrecy." 
For they were now come upon the hunting-ground 
of the Panama poulterers. It was the custom of the 
"Dames of Panama," so the Cimaroons informed 
them, to send hither "Hunters and Fowlers for taking 
of sundry dainty Fowle which the land yeeldeth." If 
they "marched not very heedfully" some of these 
sportsmen might get sight of them to their undoing, 
for warning of their approach would surely be has- 
tened back by their discoverers to Panama. The goal 
they were aiming for was a grove, or piece of woods, 
that lay within a league of Panama, near the high- 



140 The Boy's Drake 

way to Nombre-de-Dios. Here sheltered, they were to 
be in readiness for action. 

The grove was attained without discovery at three 
o'clock of an afternoon, the party having entered it 
indirectly by "passing, for the most secrecy, a certaine 
River which at that time was almost dryed up." When 
they had "disposed of" themselves in this shelter to 
their satisfaction, Drake sent off a Cimaroon as a spy 
to Panama, to learn "the certaine night, and time of 
the night, when the Carriers laded the Treasure from 
the King's Treasure-house to Nombre de Dios." For, 
as the narrator explains, they were wont to take the 
first stage of their journey, from Panama to Venta 
Cruz, "ever by night, because the Countrey is all 
Champion, and consequently by day very hot: but 
from Venta Cruz to Nombre de Dios as oft as they 
travell by Land with their Treasure they travell alwayes 
by day and not by night, because all that way is full of 
Woods, and therefore very fresh and coole: unlesse," 
he artfully remarks, "the Symerons happily encounter 
them and make them sweat and feare, as sometimes 
they have done: whereupon they are glad to guard 
their Recoes [mule teams] with Souldiers as they passe 
that way." 

The Cimaroon spy was well acquainted with Pan- 
ama, having "served a master" there some time before, 
and he was disguised in a costume such as the Panama 
negroes then wore. He was despatched an hour be- 
fore night so that "by the closing in of the evening he 
might be in the City," as he was. And unexpectedly 



On the Isthmus of Panama 141 

soon he had returned with great news. He had ascer- 
tained all that he had been sent for and more. From 
old companions whom he met he had heard that a 
great man, no less than the Spanish treasurer of Lima, 
Peru, on his way to Spain, was to start out that very 
night with a train-load of gold and jewels, from Pan- 
ama for Nombre-de-Dios, there to take the first swift 
"adviso" (despatch-boat) sailing for Spain. He was 
to be accompanied by his "Daughter and Family." 
His train was to comprise "fourteene Moyles" (mules), 
of which eight would be laden with the gold and one 
with the jewels. The others probably were to carry 
the family baggage. The spy further learned that 
two other "Recoes" of "fifty Moyles" each were also 
to start that night, after the departure of the treas- 
urer's string. These two were to carry "Victuals for 
the most part," but would bear a small quantity of 
silver. "There are twenty-eight of these Recoes," 
the narrator here remarks; "the greatest of them is of 
seventy Moyles, the lesse of fifty, unlesse some par- 
ticular Man hyre for himselfe ten, twenty, or thirty, 
as he hath need." 

With this great news all was animation in camp. 
The march must be resumed forthwith, and away 
from Panama, for Drake would intercept the rich 
treasurer's team toward Venta Cruz. Hurriedly their 
belongings were gathered up and all stole from the 
sheltering grove as quietly as they had entered it, only 
a few hours before, though now under the cover of 
night. Cimaroon scouts went ahead, to prevent any 



142 The Boy's Drake 

surprise. A march of four leagues (twelve miles) 
brought the band to a point six miles short of the little 
town on the Chagres, where they halted, here to make 
their ambuscade in the tall grass on either side of 
the highway. Shortly before this point was reached 
the foremost scouts scented the enemy. The pungent 
odour of a burning musket-match wafted to their sen- 
sitive nostrils. Cautiously following the scent they came 
upon a Spanish soldier sound asleep by the road-side, 
snoring lustily. He "being but one" and they two, 
they valiantly "fell upon" the unsuspecting sleeper, 
"stopt his mouth from crying," that is, gagged him, 
"put out his Match and bound him" so stoutly that 
he was wellnigh strangled, and ran him back to Drake. 
He was thoroughly scared, in mortal fear of the 
Cimaroons whose malevolence toward all Spaniards he 
well knew. But when he found that he was not in 
their hands alone, and had learned that the leader of 
the band was the famous Captain Drake whose prowess 
was heralded over the Spanish Main, his natural bra- 
very and coolness returned; and he was quick to pro- 
pose a trade for his life. Drake put him through a 
sharp examination, and his ready answers corroborated 
all that the spy sent into Panama had reported. He 
was one of a guard of soldiers hired by the Lima treas- 
urer to conduct his team on the second stage of his 
journey — from Venta Cruz to Nombre-de-Dios — and 
when pounced upon by the scouts he was taking a bit 
of a rest before his march was to begin. The shrewd 
fellow proposed his trade in the second of two "re- 



On the Isthmus of Panama 143 

quests" that he "was bold to make" to the captain. 
The first was that Drake would command the Cima- 
roons, "which hated the Spanish, especially the Soul- 
diers, extreamly, to spare his life, which he doubted 
not but they would doe at his [Drake's] charge." The 
other was that, "seeing he was a Souldier, and assured 
him [Drake] that they [Drake's band] should have 
that night more Gold besides Jewels and Pearles of 
great price then [than] they could carry off, if not then 
he was to be dealt with how [as] they would " : it might 
please Drake to give him as much of the plunder as 
might suffice for him and his wife to live upon, "as he 
had heard our Captaine had done to divers others: for 
which he [the soldier] would make his name so fa- 
mous as any of them which had received like favour." 
Whether Drake entertained this proposal is not re- 
corded. Evidently the prisoner was not given over 
to the Cimaroons, but was retained with his captors for 
the time being. However, here he passes from view. 

At the halting-place Drake divided his band, Eng- 
lish and Cimaroons, into two equal parts, and took 
command himself of one half, assigning John Oxen- 
ham to the command of the other half. Then he 
marched his squad into the long grass on one side of 
the road, and about fifty paces off it, while Oxenham 
marched his into the grass on the other side at the 
same distance from it, but farther behind Drake's 
position. The two squads were so disposed that, "as 
occasion served, the former Company might take the 
foremost Moyles by the heads and the other the hind- 



144 The Boy's Drake 

most, because the Moyles tyed together are alwayes 
driven one after another." And for the other reason 
that if the men had need to use their weapons that 
night they might be sure not to endanger each other. 
Thus, in their respective positions, the squads lay 
down quite concealed in the tall grass and awaited 
events. With Oxenham was Pedro, the Cimaroon 
chief. All the English, by order, put their shirts out- 
side their other clothes, the customary procedure for 
night attacks, that "we might be sure to know our 
owne men in the pell mell of the night." 

All had thus lain in ambush for a little above an 
hour, when the distant music of "deepe sounding 
Bel[l]s" fell upon their listening ears. They were the 
tinkling signals to be heard in a still night, as this was, 
"very far off," of trotting mule teams. The sound 
coming from either direction told that teams were ap- 
proaching from Venta Cruz bound for Panama, and 
from Panama for Venta Cruz, for trade was lively on 
the road when the fleets were in. Drake's orders were 
that everything from Venta Cruz should be let pass 
because only merchandise was carried that way. All 
the men were to lie low whatever passed or approached, 
till the signal for attack was given by Drake's whistle. 
But one of the band, presumably of Oxenham's squad, 
one Robert Pike, "having drunken too much Aqua 
vitcB without water, forgat himselfe, and enticing a 
Symeron forth with him was gone hard to the way 
[ahead of his place] with intent to shew his forward- 
nesse on the foremost Moyles," when the team to at- 



On the Isthmus of Panama 145 

tack should arrive. Pretty soon there was heard the 
sound of the beating hoofs of a trotting horse on the 
hard road, approaching from Venta Cruz. It was the 
handsome steed of a cavaher with his fleet-footed 
page running at the stirrup. As the cavaher came 
abreast the inner hne of the ambuscade honest drunken 
Robert rose up "to see what he was." The soberer 
Cimaroon, "of better discretion," quickly pulled him 
down and sat, or lay, upon him "that he might not dis- 
cover them any more." But too late. It was appar- 
ent that the cavalier had seen the ghost-hke figure, 
and had taken alarm, for the gentle trot of the horse 
had suddenly changed into a mad gallop. Drake, 
from his position, had heard and observed, "by reason 
of the hardnesse of the ground and stillnesse of the 
nigh[t], the change of this Gentleman's trot to a gal- 
lop," and suspected that he was discovered. But there 
was no time for investigation, and he hoped that the 
horseman had pricked his steed only to hasten past 
what was known to ordinary travellers as a dangerous 
point on the road. 

Not long after the sound of bells coming toward 
Venta Cruz grew louder and louder as a recua neared 
the ambuscade. This must be the treasurer's train. 
As the head of the string of mules appeared, trotting 
abreast his squad, Drake sounded the signal. Both 
squads sprang to their feet. The foremost and hind- 
most of the string were seized simultaneously, and the 
train was theirs. Another recua immediately follow- 
ing was similarly taken. The raiders rushed for the 



146 The Boy's Drake 

spoil. Packs and bags were torn open, but mostly pro- 
visions were found: no gold, no jewels, and only "some 
two-horse loads of silver." Consternation marked every 
face as the raiders realised that these were but the vict- 
ualling trains that their scout had reported were to fol- 
low the treasurer's, and that they had been defeated of 
their "Golden Recoe" by some mysterious turn of fate. 

Then one of the chief carriers, " a very sensible fel- 
low," explained to Drake how it had happened. The 
cavalier whom Robert Pike had risen up to see, and 
so exposed his white-shirted upper body, had met the 
treasurer's team coming along the road, within a mile 
and a half of their ambush, and had warned him of 
the danger ahead. Reporting the apparition that he 
had seen, a figure "all in white" rising out of the grass 
near the roadside, he told the treasurer "what he had 
heard of Captain Drake this long time, and what he 
conjectured to be most likely: viz. that the said Cap- 
tain Drake, or some for him, disappointed of his ex- 
pectation of getting any great Treasure both at Nombre 
de Dios and other places, was by some meanes or other 
come by land in covert thorow [through] the Woods 
unto this place to speed for his purpose." Therefore 
the cavalier persuaded the treasurer to turn his recua 
aside, and let the others following pass on ahead of 
him. If the worse befel, the cavalier reasoned, the loss 
of these, being laden mostly with "victuals," would 
be far less, while they would serve as well to discover 
Drake, should his guess prove correct. 

The disappointment of the raiders at this surprising 



On the Isthmus of Panama 147 



slip from their grasp of "a most rich booty" was keen; 
but with their readiness to shift the responsibiUty for 
their successes and failures alike upon the Lord, they 
consoled themselves with the artless reflection that 
this particular spoil "God would not should be taken 
for that by all likelihood it was well gotten by that 
Treasurer" ! And Drake himself took the defeat most 
philosophically. While he regretted it as keenly as 
any, and especially grieved that he should have been 
discovered through the heedlessness of one of his own 
men, he accepted the truism that it were "bootlesse to 
grieve over things past." 

Then with no more ado he turned to the considera- 
tion of the next move. 



XIV 
TAKING OF VENTA CRUZ 

AND what the next move should be was a per- 
plexing problem that must quickly be solved, 
for their situation now was critical. That "sen- 
sible fellow," the chief carrier, had warned them that 
they must "shift" for themselves "betimes," unless 
they were " able to encounter the whole force of the City 
and Country which before day would be about" them. 
There were only two ways to be taken. The one was 
to travel back again the same secret route they had 
come, twelve miles march back, into the woods; the other 
forward by the highway to Venta Cruz, six miles only, 
and thence through the town to the woods. Pedro 
strongly advised the latter, although it was known that 
Venta Cruz was nightly guarded by soldiers, for fear 
of the Cimaroons, He would have Drake " make a way 
with his Sword thorow the Enemies," And this way 
the captain jfinally determined upon, choosing it be- 
cause it was the shortest and readiest, and so would tell 
least upon the men much fatigued by the long march 
of that night and the day before. He would rather 
"encounter his Enemies while he had strength remain- 



Taking of Venta Cruz 149 

ing then [than] to be Encountered or chased when we 
should be worne out with wearinesse." Then, too, 
they had now the mules, and the more tired members 
of the band might be eased by riding some part of this 
march. 

His decision once reached Drake could not forego 
making with its announcement one of those dramatic 
strokes of which we have seen he was so fond: "Com- 
manding all to refresh themselves moderately with such 
store of Victuall as we had there in aboundance [seized 
from the recua], he signified his resolution and reason 
to them all. [Then] asking Pedro by name whether he 
would give his hand not to forsake him — because he 
knew the rest of the Symerons would also then stand 
fast and firme, so faithful are they to their Captaine: 
He [Pedro], being very glad of his [Drake's] resolution, 
gave our Captaine his hand, and vowed that he would 
rather dye at his foot then [than] leave him to his Ene- 
mies, if he held this course." The stroke was effective, 
as doubtless it was aimed to be, in heartening the whole 
band; and the start was made in fine feather. 

All went without incident till the footmen and riders 
had come within a mile of the town. At this point 
the mules were returned to the muleteers, and the 
latter were released and dismissed with the charge 
that they should not follow the band "upon paine of 
their lives." Now the little forest had been re-entered, 
and the road cut through its luxuriant growth nar- 
rowed to about ten or twelve feet, sufficient only to let 
two recuas pass each other closely. Along the road's 



150 The Boy's Drake 

sides the growth was as thick as ''our thickest hedges 
in England that are oftenest cut." Within the thick- 
ets commanding the road the Spanish picket was ac- 
customed to hide. Now here concealed were a com- 
pany of soldiers with a number of fighting priests, 
lying in wait for the oncoming band. These were 
scented out by the Cimaroon scouts marching "with 
great heedfulness and silence" some "halfe a flight- 
shot" ahead the main body, by the smell of their 
musket-matches, as the sleeping soldier had been dis- 
covered before the raid. They comprised the troops 
regularly stationed in the town to guard it against the 
Cimaroons, together with a "convent of Fryers," in- 
mates of a monastery in Venta Cruz, under their own 
leader. Expecting the raiders, this force had come out 
to stop them on their way, or else to entice them to 
the town entrance and there engage them. Upon the 
scouts' report, all were instantly made ready for battle. 
Drake gave strict charge that none should "make any 
shot" till the Spaniards had first spent their volley, 
which he expected they would do at the outset. Thus 
the band advanced ready for action. Pretty soon they 
were within hearing distance of the enemy. Then they 
were challenged. 

Coming out apparently into the road the Spanish 
commander cried, "Hoo!" 

Drake "answered likewise." 

The Spanish captain called, "Que genteP" [What 
race ?] 

Drake responded, "Englishmen." 



Taking of Venta Cruz 151 

The Spaniard, "in the name of the King o( Spaine 
his Master," demanded their surrender, with the assur- 
ance, "in the word and faith of a Gentleman Souldier, " 
that if they so yielded they would be used "with all 
courtesie." 

Drake, "drawing somewhat neere him," retorted, 
"For the honour of the Queene of England his Mis- 
tresse, he must have passage that way: and there- 
withall discharged his Pistol towards him." 

This was the last word. Presently the Spaniards 
shot off their whole volley. Drake and several of his 
men were wounded slightly, and one fatally — John 
Harris by name, who was "powdered with Haile-shot." 
When he saw that the enemy's next shots came slack- 
ing, "as the latter drops of a great shewer of raine," 
Drake gave his usual signal, "to answer them with 
our shot and arrowes" and rush forward "to come 
handy-strokes" with them. Attaining their position 
they were found to have "retired as to a place of some 
better strength." To prevent their gaining it if he 
might, Drake increased the pace of his men. Then 
the Cimaroons, who had stood aside after the enemy's 
first volley, joined in the chase, with their war-dance 
and battle-cry. Their entrance must have been spec- 
tacular, and nerve-racking, too, to the waiting force 
at stand to receive the onslaught. They came for- 
ward "one after another, traversing the way, with 
their Arrowes ready in their Bowes, and their manner 
of Country Dance or Leaps, very lustily, singing 'Y6 
pebo! Y6 pebo!'" And so getting before the EngHsh- 



152 The Boy's Drake 

men, they "continued their Leaps and Song after the 
manner of their own Countrey Warres." At length 
some of the Spanish force were overtaken in the woods 
near the town where they evidently had determined 
to make a last stand. But the Cimaroons broke in 
through the thickets on both sides of them, and they 
were forced to fly, "Fryers and all." Several more of 
the English were wounded, and one Cimaroon was 
run through by a pike. This lusty savage "revenged 
his own death ere he dyed by killing him that had given 
him that deadly wound." 

Now the town was entered with a rush, and Drake 
took full possession of it without further open protest. 

The Venta Cruz of that time, occupying the west 
bank of the Chagres and backed by the tropical forest, 
was composed, as the narrator describes, of about forty 
or fifty houses, some of these "faire," with "many 
Storehouses large and strong for the Wares which were 
brought thither from Nombre de Dios by the River of 
Chagro [Chagres], so to be transported by Moyles to 
Panama." There was the monastery, "where we found 
above a thousand Bul[l]s and Pardons newly sent 
thither from Rome." Attached to the monastery was 
a hospital, or sanitarium, for Spanish matrons of Nom- 
bre-de-Dios and their babes, since infants of Spanish or 
other white mothers could not be reared in that un- 
healthy place. Another description presents the "fair" 
or finer houses as stone structures decorated with carven 
work. The town had a governor and other ofl&cers. It 
was not fortified with walls or other defences. There 



Taking of Venta Cruz 1 53 

were but two land entrances. The main one was from 
the highway by which Drake entered. The other was 
at the opposite end, where was a bridge, leading toward 
the woods beyond the river. Guards were set at the 
main entrance and on the bridge, so that the raiders 
were not disturbed during their stay. This was only 
for "some houre and halfe," but it gave ample oppor- 
tunity for their refreshment, and for the acquisition of 
some "good Pillage" by both the English and Cima- 
roons. All were allowed by Drake to take what they 
would, "so that it were not too cumbersome or heavy in 
respect of our travell or defence of our selves." But he 
was scrupulously careful that no injury or insult be 
suffered by the passive townsfolk. He had especially 
given "straight charge" to the Cimaroons that while 
they were in his company they "should not hurt a 
Woman, nor Man that had not weapon in his hand to 
doe them hurt." This they had "earnestly promised 
and no lesse faithfully performed." Still there was 
constant fear of them, particularly among the gentle- 
women in the sanitarium. To "comfort" these Drake 
provided them with a special guard. But this did not 
put them at ease, and they "never ceased most ear- 
nestly intreating," till he "would vouchsafe to come to 
them himselfe for their more safety." And only when 
the gallant captain appeared and "in their presence" 
reported his charge to the Cimaroons, and repeated the 
assurance of his own men that they should not be 
molested, were they fully "comforted." 

A little before the raiders were ready to depart, a 



154 The Boy's Drake 

company of ten or twelve horsemen appeared before 
the main entrance to "enter the town confidently." 
They were come from Panama, and supposed that 
Drake had left "for that all was so still and quiet" as 
they approached. But the guards evidently received 
them warmly, for "finding their entertainment such as 
it was they that could rode faster back againe for fear 
then [than] they had ridden forward for hope." 

It was as the new day was "beginning to spring" 
that the town was left, the raiders marching out and 
over the bridge in their customary order. They now 
felt as safe as if they had been "environed with Wall 
and Trench," for that "no Spaniard without his ex- 
treame danger could follow" them, especially since 
their Cimaroons were "growne very valiant." Still 
Drake hastened them as if on a forced march. Since 
nothing more could be accomplished on this raid he 
was anxious to get back to his ship, and see how it 
fared with the sick men left there with Ellis Hixom. 
He had now been gone nigh a fortnight on this expe- 
dition, and there was still a long distance to cover. He 
declined the earnest invitation of his Cimaroons to stop 
for a visit to "the other Symeron Towne," and pressed 
on with relentless vigour. But he urged the band along 
"with such example and speech," and so cheerfully, 
that "the way seemed much shorter." He buoyed 
them up with his confident assurance that he "doubted 
not but ere he left that Coast we should be bountifully 
paid and recompensed for all those paines taken." As 
their journey lengthened "those paines" increased. 



Taking of Venta Cruz 155 

"We marched many dayes with hungry stomackes, 
much against the will of our Symerons, who, if we 
would have stayed any day from this continuall journey- 
ing, would have killed for us Victuall sufficient." Near- 
ing the journey's end, all complained of the "tender- 
nesse" of their bruised and wellnigh shoeless feet. In 
these complaints the clever captain joined, "sometimes 
without cause but sometimes with cause indeed," which 
sympathetic diplomacy "made the rest to beare the 
burthen the more easily." Along the hard way, too, 
the Cimaroons were ever encouraging and helpful. 
They cheerily served as guides to the easiest paths, as 
hunters for game for them, as builders of their lodgings 
at night; with able and strong bodies, carrying all their 
necessaries and even the men themselves when fainting 
with illness or great fatigue. 

At length Drake halted the weary band at a point 
within nine miles of Fort Diego. For here in a shel- 
tered spot during their absence the Cimaroons left with 
Hixom had built a little town of leafy huts especially 
for their accommodation and refreshment should they 
arrive tired from their long march. Drake consented 
to tarry here long enough to enable the Cimaroons to 
provide the band with shoes for their lacerated feet. 
Immediately, however, upon reaching the place, which 
was on a Saturday eve (February 22), he despatched a 
Cimaroon with a message and a "token," as had been 
agreed, to Ellis Hixom. 

How this messenger was received by the careful Hix- 
om the narrator thus dramatically relates : "Assoone as 



156 The Boy's Drake 

this messenger was come to the shoare, calHng to our 
Ship as bringing some newes, he was quickly set aboord 
by those which longed to heere of our Captaines speed- 
ing. But when he shewed the Tooth-pike [pick] of 
Gold which he said our Captain had sent for a token to 
Ellis Hixom, with charge to meet him at such a River: 
though the Master knew well the Captaines Tooth-pike, 
yet by reason of his admonition and caveat given him at 
parting, he, — though he bewrayed [betrayed] no signe 
of distrusting the Symeron, — yet stood as amazed, least 
[lest] something had befallen our Captaine otherwise 
then [than] well. The Symeron perceiving this, told 
him that it was night when he was sent away, so that 
our Captaine could not send any letter, but yet with the 
point of his knife he wrote something upon the Tooth- 
pike which, he said, should be sufficient to gaine credit 
to the Messenger. Thereupon the Master lookt upon 
it, and saw written, 

'"By me Francis Drake* 

wherefore he beleeved." 

In accordance with this message Hixom at once pro- 
visioned a pinnace and "repaired to the mouth of the 
River Tortugos, as the Symerons that went with him 
then named it," — the "such a river" indicated in the 
message, which lay a few miles westward of Fort Diego. 
On the same day Drake marched his band, all but a few 
who were left in the "Indian new Towne" further to 
recuperate, to the appointed place, which they reached 
in the afternoon. After not more than a half-hour's 



Taking of Venta Cruz 157 

anxious wait their longing eyes caught sight of Hixom's 
pinnace bounding toward them, a piece of good luck 
for "double rejoycing: first that we saw them, and next 
so soone." Then under the captain's lead all knelt 
on the sands in a service of tl^anksgiving, with praise 
to "God most heartily for that we saw our Pinnace and 
fellowes againe." 

Joyous greetings were given them by the pinnace's 
crew. To Hixom's men — they "who had lived at rest 
and plenty all this while " at Fort Diego — the worn and 
tattered band appeared "as men strangely changed" in 
"countenance and plight." And "indeed," the narra- 
tor remarks, "our long fasting and sore travill might 
somewhat sore pine and waste us: but the greefe we 
drew inwardly for that we returned without that Gold 
and Treasure we hoped for, did no doubt shew her 
print and footsteps in our faces." Not so, however, 
with the buoyant and resolute Drake. On his ever 
cheerful countenance were permitted to appear no such 
"print and footsteps." The next day the pinnace was 
towed to "another River in the bottome of the Bay,'* 
where those who had remained behind in the town were 
picked up. Then all were back again at Fort Diego 
and the company reunited. 

The sick men were found recovered or recovering. 
They and the others left to care for them and in charge 
of the fort, listened with rapt interest to the tales that 
the returned adventurers told; and were "throughly re- 
vived" with the report they brought of the surety of 
great profit from a successful raid on the Panama recuas. 



158 The Boy's Drake 

And when they were assured of the captain's pur- 
pose, "that he meant not to leave off thus, but would 
once againe attempt the same journey, whereof they also 
might be partakers," all were eager for the renewed 
venture. 



XV 
SECOND RAID ON THE PANAMA ROAD 

ANOTHER adventure could not be made imme- 
diately. It must be postponed till later in the 
season when the rich recuas were in movement 
again. In the meantime, however, Drake would not 
suffer the "edge and forwardnesse" of his men to be 
"dulled or rebated" by their "lying still idely unim- 
ployed," for he knew "right well by continual experi- 
ences," our narrator sagely observes, "that no sick- 
nesse was more noysome to impeach any enterprise 
then [than] delay and idlenesse." 

So he assembled the whole company for discussion of 
projects that might be undertaken with profit during 
the wait. He himself was "considering deepely the in- 
telligences of other places thereabouts" which he had 
gotten during his reconnoitring expeditions in former 
years, "and particularly of Veragua, a rich Towne 
lying to the Westward, betweene Nomhre de Dios and 
Nicaragua,'^ where was a mine of fine gold. But he 
was ready first to hear and consider suggestions from 
any of his company. 

The conference was long and earnest with various 
schemes well argued by their several advocates. Some 

IS9 



i6o The Boy's Drake 

thought it most necessary further to seek suppHes of 
good victuals to keep the men close and in health 
through the period of waiting. This was to be done, of 
course, by overhauling Spanish victualling ships at sea. 
Others put forth the bolder proposition that their time 
should be disposed in intercepting the treasure frigates. 
Now that the fleets were in these waters, they thought it 
an opportunity that ought not be neglected. The views 
of the Cimaroons, who were in the council closely fol- 
lowing the debate, were asked. With them the idea of 
a raid upon Veragua was most enticing. They told of 
the marvellous wealth of a great rich man there, owner 
of gold mines, to whose possessions they could and 
gladly would lead the Englishmen. The picture they 
gave of this Spanish don and his wealth was cleverly 
drawn to tempt the cupidity of the treasure hunters. 
He was one "Sinior Pezoro," some time their master, 
from whom they had fled. He " dwelt not in the Towne 
for feare of some surprises," but yet not far from it. 
His house was a very strong one, built of stone. Here he 
had lived for nineteen years, never travelling from home 
except once a year to Cartagena, or Nombre-de-Dios, 
when the fleets were at those ports. He kept a hundred 
slaves at least in his mines, and had heaped a "mighty 
Masse of Treasure together." This gold was kept in 
great chests each "two foote deepe, three broad, and 
foure long." The Cimaroons would lead their English 
friends to this treasure through the woods by the same 
way that they as slaves had fled from the place. Thus 
the raiders would avoid entering the haven of Veragua 



Second Raid on the Panama Road i6i 

with danger, and would come upon Pezoro's house at 
the back, "akogether unlooked for." Akhough this 
house was of stone and could not be burned, these bold 
Cimaroons, ready to go any length, would agree to "un- 
dermine and overthrow, or otherwise breake it open." 

When these various proposals had been fully dis- 
cussed Drake decided for himself, as was his wont. 
He would adopt the first two projects. The company, 
with the exception of a number sufficient to guard the 
"Pascha" and the prisoners, should be divided into 
two bands. John Oxenham, with one band, should go 
in the "Bear" eastward toward Tolou, to cruise for 
victual-ships: while Drake, with the other, would take 
the "Minion," sail westward, and "lye off and on the 
Cahezas where was the greatest trade and most ordinary 
passage of those which transported Treasure from Vera- 
gua and Nicaragua to the Fleet." Thus no time could 
be lost or opportunity let slip "either for Victuall or 
Treasure." The attempt upon Veragua, or Senor Pe- 
zoro's house, by land, with a long march through the 
woods, was not to Drake's liking, because it would over- 
weary his men by continual labour. He would the 
rather study to "refresh and strengthen" them that they 
might be in condition for the greater service to come 
on the Panama road. Still he was most gracious in his 
declination of this plan. It might be reserved for a later 
attempt. 

The two expeditions started out merrily, the "Bear" 
to the east, the "Minion " to the west. The " Minion's " 
adventures are first told by the narrator. 



1 62 The Boy's Drake 

Almost immediately, when about the Cabezas, she 
came across a Spanish frigate of Nicaragua, and took 
her. Some gold was on her, and a *'Genoway [Geno- 
ese] Pilot," both of which were promptly appropriated. 
The Genoese pilot was of value for his knowledge of 
these parts. Drake treated him so handsomely that 
his confidence was soon won. He proposed an enter- 
prise in which the two should join. He had been at 
Veragua only eight days before, he said, and when he 
left a great frigate with more than a million of gold 
aboard her was in the harbour ready shortly to sail. 
He offered to conduct Drake to her, if Drake, "would 
doe him right," that is, give him a share of the plunder. 
He knew the channel so well that he could enter by 
night without danger from its sands and shallows, and 
"utterly undescryed." If by "any casualty" they 
should be discovered from the harbour's point, they 
might despatch their "business" and depart before the 
town could have word of their presence, for that lay five 
leagues within the harbour. The Genoese further told 
how the town had heard of Drake's being on the coast 
and was thereat "put in great feare"; and how the 
wealthy Pezoro was proposing to remove to the South 
Sea (the Pacific) for greater safety. When he left 
nothing had been done to prevent Drake's coming if 
he would, for the fear of him was so great that, as he 
expressed it, "it excluded Counsell and bred Despair." 

With this information Drake was minded after all to 
attempt a raid upon Pezoro's treasure, but by the water 
instead of the land route, as the Cimaroons had pro- 



Second Raid on the Panama Road 163 

posed. He must, however, first return for some of 
these alhes, who had been the don's slaves. The Geno- 
ese opposed this, urging that there should be no delay 
if the frigate were to be gained. Thereupon Drake 
decided to seek her at once, and after her capture go 
for Pezoro. So all "laboured with Sayle and Oares" 
to attain the harbour and enter by night as planned. 
When the mouth was reached and they were about to 
steal in, the report of "two chambers" (short pieces of 
ordnance) came over the water from the shore. A 
moment after, from farther off, within the bay, came two 
other reports, as if answering the first ones. The pilot 
conjectured that they were discovered. As he supposed, 
since his departure the town authorities had taken 
some precautions, nerved perhaps by renewed warn- 
ings of Drake sent out by the governor of Panama. 
At least they had evidently set up a watch "for their 
security," probably, he surmised, at the cost of the 
"rich Gruife Pezoro." While the Genoese was thus 
explaining, the wind, which until now had been easterly, 
suddenly veered to the westward, inviting Drake's band 
to return again to their own haven. In their simple 
faith, taking this shift of the wind as a sign from heaven 
that "it was not God's will that we should enter at this 
time," they now abandoned the enterprise, and parting 
with the Genoese, returned accordingly with only the 
little gold taken from his ship. 

Oxenham, with the "Bear," had better luck. He 
brought in a fine prize. She was a frigate laden with 
"great store o^ Maiz [maize], twenty eight fat Hogs, and 



164 The Boy's Drake 

two hundred Henns." She had been taken with a crew 
often men, all of whom Oxenham had set ashore. She 
was so stanch a craft — "new, strong and of good 
mould," — that Drake decided to transform her into a 
man-of-war and add her to his fleet. Therefore, after 
her cargo was discharged, she was tallowed, equipped 
with guns from the "Pascha," and otherwise fully pro- 
vided. No formal name was given her, she was sim- 
ply called "Our Frigate." The work upon her was 
hastened, since it had been heard from the "Spaniards 
last taken," probably Oxenham's captures, that two 
little galleys were building in Nombre-de-Dios, but 
not yet both launched, to waft, or tow, the " Chagro 
[Chagres River] Fleete to and fro," and accordingly 
Drake "purposed now to adventure for that Fleete." 
All was in readiness for this venture by Easter Day 
[March 20], and to hearten the company for it Drake 
that day "feasted" them all "with great cheere and 
cheerefulnesse." 

The next morning he was off with a picked crew in 
the new "Our Frigate" and the "Bear," sails set for 
the Catives. Here two days after a landing was made. 
They had been ashore but a little while when a sail was 
sighted to the westward, making, as it seemed, for the 
island. Drake immediately set sail with the "Our 
Frigate" and plied toward the stranger. As he neared 
her she bore with his ship. It was seen that she was 
no Spaniard. As she came up she "shot off her Lee 
Ordnance" in "token of amity." Drake responded 
with a similar salute. 



Second Raid on the Panama Road 165 

The stranger was found to be a Huguenot privateer. 
"We understood/' says the narrator, "that he was Tetu, 
a French Captaine of New-haven [Havre], a Manne of 
Warre as we were." He is supposed to have been Le 
Testu, a Huguenot captain of distinction: possibly 
identical, some of the historians say, with Guillaume Le 
Testu, of Fran^oise de Grace, a famous pilot who in 
1555 made an atlas which he dedicated to Coligny, 
admiral of France and the Huguenot leader. He was 
in distress and at their meeting pleaded relief from 
Drake. Casting "abroad his hands" he "prayed our 
Captaine to helpe him to some water, for that he had 
nothing but Wine and Cider aboord him which had 
brought his Men into great sicknesse." He had sought 
Drake, he said, ever since he had heard of his being on 
this coast, which was some five weeks back. And when 
he discerned the frigate coming toward him he felt 
satisfied that it was Drake's and a friend. 

Drake gave him temporary relief and invited him to 
follow to port where he should have all he needed of 
both water and victuals. When at the island the two 
ships had come to anchor more civilities passed between 
the two captains, with exchange of gifts. The French- 
man, in token of his gratitude for the help so generously 
extended, presented the Englishman with a case of 
pistols and a " fairre guilt cymeter." Drake " requited " 
the Frenchman with a "Chaine of Gold and a Tablet 
which he wore." Both gifts were rare. The scimitar 
was an historic weapon. It "had been the late Kings of 
France, whom Monsieur Mongomery hurt in the eye, 



1 66 The Boy's Drake 

and was given him by Monsieur Strosse," the narrator 
informs us. The "late King" was Henry II of France. 
The " Mongomery " was Gabriel Montgomery, captain 
of Henry's Scottish guards who accidentally gave the 
king his mortal wound in a tournament on a June day 
of 1559. The "Monsieur Strosse," Leon Strozzi, a 
famous mercenary general of banditti. Captain Testu, 
or Tetu, as the English called him, is said to have 
received the sword as a gift from the admiral Coligny 
who had it from Strozzi. The gold chain supporting 
a tablet was one of Drake's prized ornaments. The 
tablet was of enamel. 

Now the men of the two companies, English and 
French, fraternised, while the principals listened to and 
discussed the European news which Captain Tetu 
brought. He had been in France at the time of the 
massacre of St. Bartholomew, and he told of that awful 
tragedy. He told, too, of "the King of Navarres mar- 
riage on St. Bartholomew's day last; of the Admirall 
of France [Coligny] slaine in his Chamber: and divers 
other Murthers." All of which led this Huguenot 
sadly to consider "those Frenchmen the happiest that 
were farthest from France." His budget of news ex- 
hausted, the French captain turned to matters of pres- 
ent concern. Remarking, flatteringly, with true French 
cleverness, "what famous and often [frequent] reports 
he had heard of our great riches," he would ask of 
Drake how he might likewise "compasse" his own voy- 
age. Could they not unite forces in some adventure ? 

Thereupon Drake and his chief men consulted 



Second Raid on the Panama Road 167 

among themselves. With all the Frenchman's cour- 
tesy and generous action, they yet held him in ''some 
jealousie and distrust." They "considered more the 
strength he had then [than] the good will he might 
beare" them. He was a corsair in the same business 
as themselves, you see, and they must ever be on their 
guard. He had a company of seventy men, while 
theirs now numbered but thirty-one. His ship was 
above seventy tons, while their frigate was "not past 
twenty," and their pinnace "nothing neer ten tun." 
Still they might risk a limited partnership with him, 
and this, too, in the new venture on the Panama road. 
They would take him, with twenty of his men, into 
this enterprise for "halves" — an equal division of the 
plunder, notwithstanding his preponderance in men 
and tonnage. This Drake regarded "proportionable 
in consideration that not number of Men, but quality 
of their judgments and knowledge were to be the prin- 
cipall actors herein." With the small force of French- 
men taken along they need have no fear of being over- 
powered. A further and a strong argument for the 
partnership was this: that with their reduced num- 
bers in available men the raid would really be difficult 
to achieve, while such help as the partnership would 
bring would seem to assure its success. The French- 
man's mihtant Protestantism may also have inclined 
Drake to union with him. So the bargain was struck. 
The Cimaroons were sent for, and two of them brought 
aboard the ships to give Captain Tetu assurance of 
their agreement with Drake. 



i68 The Boy's Drake 

It so happened that with the effecting of this part- 
nership the time had become ripe for the raid. At the 
inception of the project Drake had fixed as the ren- 
dezvous for the land journey the Rio Francisco, the 
Httle river that drops into the sea some four leagues 
to the w^est of Nombre-de-Dios. The bold captain 
had determined this time to make his dash close up to 
Nombre-de-Dios, w^here he would be least expected. 
Accordingly the word was given to make ready for the 
departure to this point. First, however, the French- 
men must be refreshed. So they were sailed eastward 
to Drake's nearest "magazines," still well stocked, and 
here were "comforted in such sort as they protested 
they were beholden to us for all their lives." Five or 
six days were occupied in this business, and in the prep- 
arations of Drake's men for the journey. Then the 
French ship was taken with the "Bear" to Fort Diego, 
and the start was made. 

The force that Drake assembled for this enterprise 
comprised sixteen men of his company and his Ci- 
maroons, and Captain Tetu, with his twenty picked 
men. These embarked in the frigate and two pinnaces. 
The other pinnace of the original three, the "Lion," by 
the way, had been sunk by Drake's orders shortly after 
the return from the first land raid, because he had not 
men sufficient to man her. The "Francisco" being too 
shallow for the frigate, she was left at the Cabezas 
manned with a mixed crew of English and French un- 
der Robert Double of the English company. Double 
was charged by Drake to stay fast there, attempting no 



Second Raid on the Panama Road 169 

chase for prizes, till the return of the pinnaces. Arrived 
in the "Francisco," the landing was made a few miles 
up-stream. Drake's last charge to the masters of the 
pinnaces, which were now to go in hiding at the Cabezas, 
was to be back here to receive the band upon their return 
"the fourth day next following without any faile." 

The march before the raiders was no such fatiguing 
tramp as the previous one. It was through the track- 
less forest, as then, but not much above twenty-one 
miles to the point where the ambush on the road-side 
was this time to be made. It was again a stealthy 
march, under the same guidance of the ever alert Ci- 
maroons. "Knowing," says the narrator, "that the 
Carriages [mule teams] went now daily from Panama to 
Nomhre de Dios, we proceeded in covert through the 
Woods towards the High-way that leadeth betweene 
them. . . . We marched as in our former journey to 
Panama both for order and silence, to the great won- 
der of the French Captaine and Company." When 
they were come within an English mile of the road, 
a little south of Nombre-de-Dios, they bivouacked for 
the night on a piece of rising ground. Here they re- 
freshed themselves "in great stillnesse." From Nom- 
bre-de-Dios below them they could hear the sound of 
many carpenters, working upon the treasure-ships in 
the harbour, "as they usually doe by reason of the great 
heat of the day." All the night through they listened 
to catch the first notes of the bells of the recuas coming 
from Panama, which could be heard a long distance 
off on the still air. 



1 70 The Boy's Drake 

The welcome sounds came not till dawn. First the 
distant tinkling was heard far down the Panama road. 
Then the clang of many bells: loud — louder. Over 
the ringing music the Cimaroons were especially joy- 
ful. "Now they assured us we should have more Gold 
and Silver then [than] all of us could beare away." As 
the raiders gazed down from their cover, soon were 
seen winding along the road and up the slope three 
royal recuas. One was of fifty mules, the other two of 
seventy each. "Every [one] of which," as was afterward 
learned, "caryed three hundred pound waight of Sil- 
ver, which in all amounted to neer thirty Tun." The 
three were guarded by "forty five Souldiers or there- 
abouts, fifteene to each Reco." Creeping silently tow- 
ard the road-side the raiders formed in ambush for 
action. As the recuas approached, the watchers took 
note of "what Mettall [metal]" they were made. Now, 
their deep-toned bells jingling merrily, they were trot- 
ting abreast the ambush. 

Instantly Drake's signal was given. The tactics of 
the previous raid were repeated. The foremost and 
the hindmost mules of the leading string were seized 
by their heads simultaneously. With their abrupt 
halt "all the rest stayed and lay down as their manner 
is." The guards were taken completely by surprise. 
They quickly rallied, however, and showed fight. A 
brisk "exchange of Bullets and Arrowes" followed. 
By the Spaniards' first fire. Captain Tetu was "sore 
wounded," and a Cimaroon killed. The skirmish was 
brief, with the guards routed. "In the end these Soul- 



Second Raid on the Panama Road 171 

diers thought it the best way to leave their Moyles 
with us and to seeke for more helpe abroad." They 
hastened for this aid, probably to Nombre-de-Dios. 
The raiders pounced upon the spoil. As the Cima- 
roons had predicted, there was far more plunder than 
they could carry off. They first "eased" the mules 
that were heaviest loaded. "Being weary" they were 
"content with a few bars and quoits of Gold" that they 
"could well carry." The silver they buried to recover 
later. Thus were hidden "partly in the Boroughs 
which the great Land-crabs had made in the earth, 
and partly under old trees which are fallen thereabouts, 
and partly in the Sand and Gravell of a River not very 
deepe of water," some fifteen tons of the white metal. 
Their "business" occupied some two hours. Then 
they left, for a forced march back the way they had 
come. The gold that they carried must have been 
considerably more than "a few bars and quoits." At 
any rate, each man was so heavily burdened that the 
march was laborious. 

They had barely got away when they heard "both 
Horse and Foot coming, as it seemed, to the Moyles." 
But these soldiers did not follow them after they had 
once entered the woods. Their freedom from pur- 
suit, no doubt, was due to the Spanish soldiery's reluc- 
tance to encounter the Cimaroons in the thickets. 
Very soon the wounded French captain dropped out 
of the fine. He had been shot in the stomach, and 
was too weak to keep the pace. He would not delay 
the march, but would remain in the woods awhile with 



172 The Boy's Drake 

two of his men, "in hope that some rest would recover 
his better strength." He was left most reluctantly, and 
with the earnest hope that he would shortly be able to 
follow the trail, which, presumably, would be marked 
for him. Six miles farther along the Frenchmen of 
the band suddenly reported one of their number miss- 
ing. Inquiry disclosed that the mercurial fellow had 
"drunke much wine," and overloaded himself with 
pillage, and, impatient to be off, had gone ahead of the 
band. He had evidently lost his way in the woods. 

Rio Francisco was reached without further mishap 
in the afternoon of the next day. But the expected pin- 
naces were not here! Instead, looking out to sea, the 
band were startled by the sight of a flotilla of seven 
Spanish shallops, making for the coast and from the di- 
rection of the Cabezas. At this they ''mightily sus- 
pected" that these Spaniards had taken or spoiled 
their pinnaces. Possibly, however, the boats might 
have been delayed by bad weather. The previous 
night there had been a heavy rain-storm, with much 
westerly wind. Had they followed Drake's order and 
set forth overnight while the wind served they would 
have arrived. But at the rendezvous they may have 
been taken. For somehow Drake learned that this 
very day at noon the Spanish shallops, "mand out of 
purpose from Nomhre de Dios," had been at this place, 
"imagining" where his band would strike the sea after 
they had intercepted the treasure. In the event of 
their capture here the pinnaces' crews might have been 
compelled by torture by their captors to confess where 



Second Raid on the Panama Road 173 

the frigate and other ships were. If this were so, 
the position of the raiders was indeed alarming. Mur- 
murings arose and lamentations, mixed, perhaps, on 
the part of some, with complaints of their leader. If 
all means of return were cut off, their loads of treasure 
"served them to small purpose." 

But the quick-witted captain rose gallantly to this 
emergency. With brave words and shrewd reason- 
ing he "comforted and incouraged" the murmurers. 
All was by no means lost. It was "no time now to 
feare but rather to haste to prevent that which was 
feared." If the enemy had prevailed against their pin- 
naces, "which God forbid!" yet the captors must have 
"time to search them, time to examine the Mariners, 
time to execute their resolution after it is determined": 
and "before all these times be taken" they, the band, 
might get to their ships if they would. Then point- 
ing to the swollen river and floating trees cast down 
by the previous night's storm, he spiritedly proposed, 
"Let us make a raft with the trees that are here in 
readinesse, as offring themselves being brought downe 
the River, happily, this last storme, and put ourselves 
to Sea. I will be one, who will be the other .?" 

Straightway up spoke one John Smith of the English- 
men. He would be the other. Next two of the French- 
men, saying that they could swim very well, volunteered. 
So, too, a Cimaroon. He had been one of a number of 
his fellows who had earnestly urged Drake to march by 
land though it were sixteen days' journey to a point 
whence the ships might be reached, and in case the 



174 The Boy's Drake 

ships really had been surprised to abide with the Cima- 
roons always. And Pedro, the chief, offered. But he 
could not be taken because he could not row. 

Now the log raft was speedily "fitted and bound"; 
a biscuit sack was utiHsed for a sail; the stem of a tree 
for a mast; and an oar was shaped from a young tree 
to serve instead of a rudder in directing the course 
of the rude craft against the wind. So soon as it 
was finished Drake and his volunteers — Smith and the 
two Frenchmen — embarked! And as they pushed off 
Drake comforted the forlorn band left behind with his 
solemn promise: that "// it pleased God he should put 
his foot in safety ahoord his Frigate, he would, God will- 
ing, by one meanes or other, get them all ahoord, in despite 
of all the Spaniards in the Indies." 

" In this manner putting off to the Sea," the narrator 
continues the story, "he sayled some three leagues, 
sitting up to the waste [waist] continually in water, and 
at every surge of the waves to his armepits, for the space 
of six houres, upon this Raft. What with the parching 
of the Sunne, and what with the beating of the Salt 
water, they had all of them their skins much fretted 
away. 

"At length God gave them the sight of two Pinnaces 
turning towards them with much wind, but with farre 
greater joy to him [Drake] that could easily conjecture, 
and did cheerfully declare to those three with him, that 
they were our Pinnaces, and that all was safe, so that 
there was [now] no cause of feare. But, see! The Pin- 
naces not seeing this Raft, nor suspecting any such 



Second Raid on the Panama Road 175 

matter, by reason of the wind and night growing on 
were forced to run into a cover behind the point [head- 
land] to take succour [shelter] for that night. Which 
our Captaine seeing, and gathering, because they came 
not forth againe, that they would Anchor there, put his 
Raft a shoare [windward of them, on the other side], 
and ran by land about the point, where he found them: 
who upon sight of him made as much haste as they could 
to take him and his Company aboord." 

It was Drake's intention to scare them: or "to try 
what haste they could and would make in extremity." 
So he had appeared running around the point, with the 
other three at his heels, "as if they had been chased by 
the Enemy." And this was precisely what the startled 
men in the pinnaces thought when he broke upon them 
"because they saw so few with him" and these in a mis- 
erable plight. Drake, too, was evidently angry with 
them for their failure to keep the appointment as he 
had charged. When he and his companions were taken 
aboard and asked "how all his Company did.? he 
answered coldly, well." The inquirers doubted that 
"all went scarce well." But nothing further was got 
from him probably till after their explanation of their 
delay. This explanation the narrator doesn't give, but 
it must have been satisfactory, for, "willing to rid all 
doubt and fill them with joy," he finally "took out of 
his bosome a Quoit of Gold, thanking God our Voyage 
was made." To the Frenchmen who were among the 
crews he told the fate of their captain, left behind "sore 
wounded" with his two men. But this he assured them 



176 The Boy's Drake 

"should be no hindrance to them," referring to the 
agreed upon division of the plunder. 

After nightfall, despite the entreaties of his men to 
rest awhile longer after the hardships of the raft voyage, 
he W2LS off rowing to Rio Francisco to relieve the wait- 
ing band there with the least possible delay. Arriving 
safely, "he tooke the rest in, and the Treasure which 
we had brought with us: making such expedition that 
by dawning of the day we set sayle back again to Our 
Frigate, and from thence directly to our Ships," As 
so soon as these were attained, Drake assembled both 
companies and "divided by weight the Gold and Silver 
into two even portions betweene the French and the 
English." Thus settlement was made as had been 
agreed and this partnership dissolved. 

The French captain, however, was not abandoned 
without further search. After taking out of the 
"Pascha" all such necessaries as were needed for "Our 
Frigate," and giving the "Pascha" a present to the 
Spanish prisoners who had been detained all this time. 
Fort Diego was left, and together with the French ship 
Drake's little squadron rode some days among the 
Cabezas. In the meantime Drake has made a "secret 
composition" with the Cimaroons for another "voyage" 
or expedition, to "get intelligence in what case the coun- 
trey stood, and, if might be, recover Monsieur Tetu, 
the French Captaine: at leastwise to bring away" the 
buried silver. For this expedition twelve of the English 
and sixteen Cimaroons were to be drawn. John Oxen- 
ham and Thomas Sherwell were assigned to lead this 



Second Raid on the Panama Road 177 

band, the company not wilHng to suffer Drake to advent- 
ure again in that direction at this time. Drake, however, 
insisted upon rowing with the party to set them ashore 
at Rio Francisco. And he was repaid for so doing. 
For at Rio Francisco appeared one of the two men who 
had been left with the wounded French captain. Com- 
ing toward the pinnace and seeing Drake the poor 
fellow "fell down on his knees, blessing God for the 
time that ever our Captaine was borne, who now be- 
yond all his hope, was become his deliverer." 

His story was soon told. Within an hour after the 
band had left them in the woods some Spaniards had 
"over gotten" them and taken Captain Tetu and his 
other man. He himself only escaped by flight, having 
cast away all his precious load, among the rest a box 
of jewels, that he might "flye the swifter from the Pur- 
suers." The other fellow might have escaped likewise, 
had he relieved himself of his pillage and "laid aside 
his covetous mind": but instead, he took up what the 
other had thrown down and thus extra "burdened him- 
selfe so sore that he could make no speed." The 
escaped Frenchman also gave depressing information 
about the hidden silver. He believed it all gone: for 
he "thought there had been neere two thousand Span- 
iards and Negroes there to dig and search for it." 

Notwithstanding this report the expedition went for- 
ward as planned. The locality of the hidden treasure 
was reached without encountering the enemy. A glance 
showed the correctness of the Frenchman's surmise. 
"The Earth every way a mile distant had beene digged 



lyS The Boy's Drake 

and turned up in every place of any likelihood to have 
anything hidden in it." The hiding-places had been in 
a general way discovered to the Spaniards by that other 
Frenchman — the fellow intoxicated with wine and over- 
loaded with loot who had lost himself in the woods on 
the return march. He had soon after been caught by 
the Spanish soldiers, and, under torture, had disclosed 
the secret. Yet with all their '* narrow search" the 
Spaniards did not get all of the buried metal. Out of 
the lot the Englishmen with their Cimaroons recovered 
"thirteen bars of Silver and some few Quoits of Gold." 
With this they got back to Rio Francisco, the third day 
after their departure, " safe and cheerfull." And " pres- 
ently" they were "embarqued without empeachment 
[hinderance], repairing with no lesse speed then [than] 
joy to our Frigate." 

At last the voyage had been "made." Its object 
had been in the main attained. Therefore "now was it 
high time to thinke of homewards." For a comfortable 
passage back to England with their various plunder the 
company should have another ship. So before com- 
pleting their preparations for departure Drake concluded 
to seek another suitable prize. He would visit the 
Magdalena once again for this purpose. The French 
company had left with their ship as soon as they had 
received their share of the loot from the Panama raid, 
anxious to return to France. Drake was as glad to 
"dismisse them as they were to be dismissed," for they 
embarassed him. He foresaw that they could not avoid 
the danger of capture by the Spaniards if a man-of-war 




SPANISH GALLEON. 



Second Raid on the Panama Road 179 

made for them while they Hngered on the coast. But 
they were met again on Drake's way to the Magdalena, 
and were "very loath to leave" his company. Accord- 
ingly they accompanied him "very kindly as far as 
Saint Barnards." Farther, however, they "durst not 
venture so great danger." For word had been re- 
ceived that the treasure fleet were ready to set sail for 
Spain, and were now "riding at the entry of Cartagena." 
This was enough to send the Frenchmen off for good: 
and they are heard of no more in our narrator's story. 

Drake proceeded on his way, and defied the Spanish 
fleet and the Cartagenans with a bravado that must 
have amazed them. He passed "hard by" the city 
"in the sight of all the Fleet, with a Flag of Saint 
George in the maintop of Our Frigate [the frigate, re- 
member, that had been taken from the Spanish], with 
silke Streamers and Ancients downe to the water, sayl- 
ing forward with a large wind." 

When he had come to within two leagues of the river 
night had fallen, and to avoid overshooting it in the 
darkness, he "lay off and on bearing small sayle," to 
await the dawn. At about midnight the wind veered 
to the eastward, and by two o'clock in the morning a 
Spanish frigate from the river passed hard by him, 
bearing also but small sail. He "saluted" her with 
shot and arrows. She rephed with "Bases." He re- 
sponded by boarding her. Her crew were speedily 
"content against their wils to depart a shoar" leaving 
the ship in his hands. She was a frigate of twenty-five 
tons, and was laden with maize, hens, hogs, and some 



i8o The Boy's Drake 

honey. Drake decided that she would answer his pur- 
pose, and he need not look further. So after dayHght 
he hastened off with her to the Cabezas. Here, as 
soon as she was at anchor she was unladen and then 
careened. At the same time the other frigate was 
also new tallowed. A busy fortnight followed in trim- 
ming and rigging the two frigates; boarding and stow- 
ing provisions; breaking up and burning the pinnaces 
that the Cimaroons might have their iron work. Then 
came the rewarding of the faithful and devoted Cima- 
roons. 

A day or two before all was in readiness for the de- 
parture, Drake "willed" Pedro and three of the chief- 
est Cimaroons to go through the two frigates and see 
what they would like, promising to give "it them what- 
soever it were, so it were not so necessary that he could 
not returne into England without it." He himself 
would select from his stock some silks or linen that 
might gratify their wives, as presents for them. While 
he was overhauling his trunks for the gayest pieces, the 
handsome scimitar, which the lost French captain had 
presented him, chanced to be brought out in Pedro's 
sight, and Pedro straightway coveted it. He preferred 
it "before all that could be given him." But sure that 
Drake must highly esteem it, he dared not "himself 
open his mouth to crave or commend it." Instead, he 
bargained with a go-between. This was one Francis 
Tucker. Him he promised a fine quoit of gold if he 
"would but move" the captain for it: and besides he 
would give the captain in exchange four other quoits 



Second Raid on the Panama Road i8i 

of gold which he had hidden. Tucker duly "moved" 
the captain and told of Pedro's offer. Drake was 
most reluctant to part with the weapon in view of the 
circumstances under which he had received it, and the 
tragic loss of the giver. Yet he was desirous to content 
Pedro, who had "deserved so well." And finally he 
handed the precious thing over to him "with many 
good words." As for Pedro, his joy was unbounded. 
Even "if he should give his Wife and Children, which 
he loved dearly, in liev [lieu] of it," he affirmed, "he 
could not sofficiently recompence it. For he would 
present his King with it, who he knew would make 
him a great Man even for this very Gifts sake." He 
pressed his four pieces of gold upon the captain, not 
as adequate payment, but as a "token of his thankful- 
nesse to him and a pawne of his faithfulnesse during 
life." Drake so accepted it "in most kinde sort." 
He would not, however, retain the gold for himself. 
It should be "cast into the whole Adventure": that is, 
added to the proceeds to be shared by his partners or 
investors In the enterprise. Thus was exhibited his 
disposition, which marked all his actions, scrupulously 
to deal fair with his associates in his undertakings. 

With the remark that "with good love and liking 
we tooke our leave of that People," the narrator dis- 
misses the Cimaroons from the story. They were not 
to be met again. 

The homeward run was rapidly made when the voy- 
agers were once on the broad Atlantic. Before the 
Indies were fairly left, one more Spanish prize was 



1 82 The Boy's Drake 

taken. They had passed "Cape Saint Anthony" 
(Cape St. Antonio), "with a large winde," when "pres- 
ently being to stand for th' Havana,'' they were " faine 
to ply to the windward for some three or foure dayes." 
And in this plying they came upon and captured a 
small bark. The prize was laden with two or three 
hundred hides, and "one most necessary thing" which 
stood them "in great stead." This was a pump, and 
they set it in their principal frigate. The bark being 
found not fit for their service, she was given back to 
her crew. At Cape St. Antonio, to which they returned, 
they refreshed themselves a bit, meanwhile taking 
"great store" of turtles' eggs by day and quantities of 
the turtles by night. Some of the turtles they "pow- 
dred [salted] and dryed" for a relish on the farther 
voyage. 

From Cape St. Antonio the "directest and speediest" 
course was taken for home. It was Drake's intention 
to touch at Newfoundland for fresh water. But this 
was not necessary. For "God Almighty so provided 
for us by giving us good store of Raine water, that we 
were sufficiently furnished." So fast did they sail that 
within twenty-three days they had passed "from the 
Cape of Florida to the lies of Silley [Scilly]." At the 
same speed they winged on to Plymouth, and there 
finally arrived on a midsummer Sunday, August 9 
(1573), at about "Sermon-time," to the astonishment 
of the town. 

"At what time," the narrator records, "the newes 
of our Captaines return brought unto his [blank] [per- 



Second Raid on the Panama Road 183 

haps relatives or friends in Plymouth], did so speed- 
ily passe over all the Church, and surpasse their minds 
with desire and delight to see him, that very few or 
none remained with the Preacher, all hastning to 
see the evidence of Gods love and blessing towards our 
Gracious Queene and Country, by the fruit of our 
Captaines labour and successe. 

Soil Deo Gloria." 

How great was the value of the plunder which Drake 
brought home was never known. The amount is vari- 
ously stated by his contemporaries and the biographers. 
The antiquary Camden says it was "a pretty store of 
money." Others put the total at from forty to fifty 
thousand pounds. It comprised gold, silver, uncut 
jewels, and some merchandise. A considerable amount 
must have been taken from the many prizes captured. 
While these were, for the most part, provision-ships 
plying along the Spanish Main, not a few of them car- 
ried precious metals and rich merchandise. Of these 
prizes the narrator remarks: ''There were at this time 
belonging to Carthagene, Nomhre de Dtos, Rio grand ^ 
Santa Martha^ Rio de Hack a, Vent a Cruz, Feragua, 
Nicaragua, the Henduras [Honduras], Jamaica, &c., 
above two hundred Frigates, some of one hundred 
twenty Tunnes, other but of ten or twelve Tun, but the 
most of thirty or forty Tun, which all had entercourse 
between Carthagene and N ombre de Dios, the most of 
which during our aboard in those parts we tooke and 
some of them twice or thrice each." Among them 



184 The Boy's Drake 

were a number newly built at Havana under the direc- 
tion of Pedro Menendez de Aviles, stanch ships and 
fast sailers. The two in which Drake and his com- 
pany came home were of this class. 

Piratical as this amazing voyage was, it was not all 
bad, as we view it with our enlightened twentieth-cen- 
tury eyes. Drake's treatment of his prizes and his pris- 
oners was chivalrous. Of all the prizes taken, the nar- 
rator tells us, none was burnt or sunk "unlesse they were 
made out Men of Warre against us, or laid as stals to 
entrap us." While "of all the men taken in these sev- 
eral Vessels we never ofFred any kind of violence to 
any after they were once come under our power, but 
either presently dismissed them in safety, or keeping 
them with us some longer time (as some of them we 
did), we alwayes provided for their sustenance as for 
our selves, & secured them from the rage of the Sy- 
merons against them, till at last the danger of their 
discovering where our Ships lay being overpast (for 
which onely cause we kept them prisoners), we set 
them also free." 

Immediately after his return to Plymouth Drake 
disappears from public view. He is next heard of in 
Ireland. 



XVI 
IN IRELAND 

DRAKE'S return was at an inopportune mo- 
ment for Queen Elizabeth's government. In- 
stead of open war with Spain which seemed 
so imminent when he sailed some fourteen months 
before, the governments were now in the midst of nego- 
tiations for peace. These negotiations, moreover, had 
reached, or were reaching, a critical stage, Drake's 
reappearance upon the scene, with fresh spoil from 
Spanish-America, therefore, could only embarrass the 
English negotiators. Philip of Spain had been stirred 
by the reports that had come oversea of Drake's au- 
dacious exploits on this amazing voyage. His plun- 
derings must be added to Spain's account against Eng- 
land. His arrest and punishment as a pirate might be 
demanded, while his booty, if found, would have to be 
disgorged. His action would be called piracy on the 
ground that he had no commission to seek reprisal on 
his own account. Under the easy law of nations at 
that time, as the naval historian Corbett shows, a sub- 
ject of one country wronged by subjects of another 
was entitled to reprisal: but before he could himself 

i8S 



1 86 The Boy's Drake 

put his remedy of special reprisal into force, he must 
obtain a commission from his own prince or govern- 
ment, and this would be granted only after he had ap- 
plied to his government for redress and redress had 
not been forthcoming. Drake had made these several 
moves, but it was doubtful whether he really possessed 
the necessary commission. If it had been given him it 
would be impolitic at this time for the government to 
acknowledge it. At all events, both his arrest and the 
surrender of his plunder would be awkward to several 
persons high in authority who were among his open 
or secret partners. Yet to refuse a demand for his 
punishment would bring the peace negotiations to a 
deadlock. 

So Drake, at a hint probably from his friends about 
the court, at once disappeared, while his plunder was 
put out of sight. His hiding-place was in Ireland. It 
is believed to have been in the secluded recesses of the 
harbour of Queenstown, then the Cove of Cork, a noted 
haunt of pirates and rovers in Tudor times. A little 
land-locked creek in the town of Crosshaven, Munster, 
on the Carrigaline River, which makes into the river 
Lee and so reaches this harbour, is identified by Cor- 
bett as the spot. It still bears the name of "Drake's 
Pool," which name has come down from Elizabeth's 
day, derived from its occupation at some time by 
Francis Drake. Historians or legends differ, it is true, 
as to the time and also as to the occasion of Drake's 
being here. The historian of Munster fixes the date, 
according to a legend, in 1589, more than a decade 



In Ireland 187 

later than the time of this hiding. The legend tells 
of a hot pursuit of Drake by Spanish ships into the 
Cove of Cork and his escape into these recesses, then 
dropping from sight so suddenly that the astonished 
Spaniards attributed it to "nothing less than magic." 
But Corbett brings forward another tradition, perhaps 
a forerunner of the local historian's, which appears well 
to sustain his identification of the "Pool" as the 
earlier hiding-place. This tradition has it that here 
Drake used to He hid and thence pounce upon Spanish 
ships passing off the harbour. Among other evidence 
that the term "used" has reference to the time of this 
hiding, is a record in Spanish state papers which Cor- 
bett finds. This record is that Drake after his return 
from the 1572-73 voyage "kept the seas till he had 
obtained his pardon." In other words, and more cor- 
rectly, till his friends had smoothed things over in his 
behalf so that he might safely reappear from hiding. 

While his lair, then, was in "Drake's Pool" our 
captain was ever busy. He had no patience with idle- 
ness or inaction. He is supposed to have taken a 
hand with other sea-rovers in guarding the Irish coast 
against a threatened Spanish attempt to open negotia- 
tions with the Irish malcontents and secure ports in 
Ireland. That was in 1574. To head off the EngHsh, 
Norman, and Low Country rovers issuing from the 
English Channel, and to protect the Spanish Flanders 
trade, Spain that year was purposing to seize Scilly and 
establish a naval base there. A fleet of little swift sail- 
ing sea-boats on that station were in the spring season 



1 88 The Boy's Drake 

to cruise about the mouth of the channel. Thus in 
conjunction with a fleet of pinnaces the corsairs were 
to be prevented from getting into the Atlantic. Through 
a union with the Irish "rebels" possession might also 
be taken of various Irish ports. Of this business Pedro 
Menendez was the master-spirit. He had returned to 
Spain that year with the West India fleet, bringing 
home the report of the "increasing activity of the Eng- 
lish rovers" in Spanish-America, "with Drake's ex- 
ploits at their head." Menendez's first step, according 
to Corbett, was to send an officer to the Irish coast to 
reconnoitre and open communication with the "rebels." 
This ofl&cer apparently performed only the first part of 
his mission, for his report was that he encountered a 
number of English "pirates" who had been ordered 
thither by the queen. Early in September an epidemic 
broke out in Menendez's fleet, and before it was pos- 
sible for him to sail he himself was attacked with the 
scourge and died. He was Spain's greatest captain, 
and with his death this scheme failed. 

Subsequently, Drake joined Walter Devereaux, Earl 
of Essex, in the latter's campaign in Ireland. Essex 
had been given a concession, or patent as it was termed, 
by Queen Elizabeth for the pacification of the district 
of Clandeboye in the rebellious province of Ulster. 
His forces comprised volunteer adventurers raised by 
himself, knights, gentlemen, soldiers, who were to be 
rewarded by grants of land. Drake is said to have 
made his acquaintance before sailing on the 1572-73 
voyage; and from the fact that Essex's departure for 



In Ireland 189 

Ireland was only a few days after Drake's return to 
Plymouth it has been assumed by the earlier biog- 
raphies that Drake joined him at that time. This is 
the statement of the generally accurate antiquary Stow. 
"Immediately after his return from the Indies," Stow 
says, "he furnished at his own expense three frigates 
with men and munitions and served voluntarily in Ire- 
land under Walter, Earl of Essex, where he did excel- 
lent service both by land and sea at the winning of 
divers strong forts." Corbett, however, on evidence 
not accessible to Stow, shows that this service did not 
begin till the spring of 1575, when the accounts between 
England and Spain had been adjusted without bringing 
in Drake's plunderings as a set-off by Spain against 
the English claims, and Drake could safely come out 
again in the open. It is Drake's own statement that 
his employment by Essex was due to a letter of recom- 
mendation from Hawkins. 

Drake did contribute to Essex's force three "frig- 
ates" equipped and manned, as Stow said. They 
included probably the Spanish prizes in which he had 
returned. He may also have invested some of his newly 
gained wealth in the venture. He appears as captain 
of one of the frigates — ^the "Falcon." The part he 
took, Corbett tells us, was in supporting the flying 
columns that raided the wretched Irish, and in actions 
with Scottish filibusters who infested the coast. His 
three frigates were engaged in the assault upon the 
isle of Rathlin off the coast of Antrim, in the summer 
of 1575, when several hundred refugees, with their 



1 90 The Boy's Drake 

guard, were slaughtered every one. This was the 
awful, culminating act of Essex's campaign of bloody 
deeds. On this little island the Scottish filibusters and 
the Irish chiefs acting with them had placed their 
women and children for safety, under the guard of a 
small garrison of Scots quartered in a castle. The 
assault was made by cruel John Norreys (whom we 
shall meet again with Drake fifteen years later), leading 
the land force, and Drake in command of the ships. 
The first attempt upon the castle was valorously re- 
pulsed. But at the second, when the attacking party 
had got two guns ashore and in position, the guard 
surrendered. Then followed the awful massacre. As 
the inmates of the castle marched out two hundred 
of "all sorts," men, women, little children, were ruth- 
lessly slain. Others had taken refuge in caves and in 
the cliffs by the sea. These were hunted down and as 
found were slaughtered, some three or four hundred 
of them, till not a soul was left alive. Meanwhile on 
the water eleven Scottish galleys were burned. Drake 
apparently had no part in the wicked butchery ashore. 
While it was going on he was busied with his frigates 
in capturing and burning the galleys. Yet his mere 
association with such a dastardly affair, the destruction 
of harmless refugees, would condemn him alike with 
Essex who planned it and Norreys who executed it, 
in our enlightened days. But here again we must con- 
sider the era and its standards. Essex, the fastidious 
knight-errant, reported the shameful performance in an 
exultant despatch to his queen, and Elizabeth returned 



In Ireland 191 

her unqualified thanks. Essex's campaign closed, un- 
successful throughout, at the end of this year, 1575. 
Then he returned to England, and probably Drake went 
back with him. 

Now Drake was full of the scheme for the most 
daring venture he had yet conceived. This was the 
project to sail the Pacific, the first of all mariners in 
an English ship, that so constantly had "pricked his 
mind" from the moment he had sight of the shining 
waters of that sea from the Great Tree top on the 
Isthmus of Panama. He had developed the plan while 
in Ireland. 

And there, while in Essex's service, he had taken into 
his confidence a new-found friend who seemed able to 
help his scheme at court. This new friend was a gen- 
tleman soldier of Essex's company, who apparently had 
somewhat intimate relations with men and affairs about 
the court. This had been shown by his employment 
by Essex in at least one confidential mission to court. 
Essex had been thwarted in his Irish campaign by some 
enemy in England and this mission was to discover who 
that enemy was. The secret commissioner had reported 
that the enemy was no other than Essex's supposed 
close friend the Earl of Leicester, and to bolster his 
assertion had recounted Leicester's alleged sayings and 
doings. The result was an open rupture between the 
two noblemen. Later Essex found that his commis- 
sioner had misled him with misrepresentations. So 
Essex wrote in a letter of apology to his old friend, 
and the quarrel was made up. Thereafter this gentle- 



192 The Boy's Drake 

man soldier was actually in disgrace with Essex, but 
this Drake did not then know. The man was one 
Thomas Doughty: a gentleman of engaging personal- 
ity, somewhat of a courtier, cultivated in mind and 
manners, but a wily intriguer as after events proved. 
He was to be associated with Drake as his most trusted 
friend, his only confidant in all the secret preparations 
for the great voyage: he was to abuse Drake's confi- 
dence, intrigue against him, and ultimately, during the 
voyage, was to be the central figure in what has been 
truly called one of the most dramatic tragedies in his- 
tory; and for the part that Drake took the great cap- 
tain has been harshly criticised by some of the his- 
torians and condemned by his enemies. All of this 
matter will appear in succeeding chapters. 

Drake's plan, as he outHned it to Doughty in Ireland, 
was cleverly drawn to entice the support of the party 
about the court still hot for war with Spain despite the 
peace negotiations. It would involve a raid into the 
Pacific by way of the Straits of Magellan and an attack 
by sea upon Panama. 

The two friends went back to England together, and 
were at once industriously and secretly at work perfect- 
ing the scheme. Drake carried from Ireland, or was 
afterward given, a flattering letter of introduction from 
Essex to Sir Francis Walsingham, the new Secretary of 
State and a leading spirit in the war party. Doughty, 
on his part, was to open Drake's way to Sir Christopher 
Hatton, then Captain of the Guard and Gentleman of 
the Privy Chamber, to whom Doughty later became 



In Ireland 193 

private secretary. The enterprise at length received 
official sanction mainly through the good offices of 
Walsingham, while Hatton's influence v^as eff'ective. 
This was probably accomplished in the summer of 1577, 
after bewildering changes in Elizabeth's policy with 
alternate peaceful and warlike moves. It is supposed 
to have followed Drake's presentation of Essex's letter, 
and to have resulted from a succession of interviews 
with Walsingham and the queen. Of these interviews 
we have Drake's own account, afterward given, or 
rather a report of his account by one of the narrators 
of the voyage in part. Turned into modern English 
and spelling, this report, with an odd mixture of the 
first and third person here and there, runs thus: 

"'My Lord of Essex wrote in my commendation 
unto Secretary Walsingham more than I was worthy, 
but belike I had deserved somewhat at his hands, and 
he thought me in his letters to be a fit man to serve 
against the Spaniards for my practice and experience 
that I had in that trade.' Whereupon, indeed, Sec- 
retary Walsingham did come to confer with him for 
that her Majesty had received divers injuries of the 
King of Spain, for the which she desired to have some 
revenge. 'And withal he shewed me a plot [map], will- 
ing me to set my hand and to note down where I thought 
he [the Spanish King] might most be annoyed. But I 
told him some part of my mind, but refused to set my 
hand to anything, affirming that her Majesty was mortal, 
and that if it should please God to take her Majesty 
away it might be that some prince might reign that might 



194 The Boy's Drake 

be In league with the King of Spain, and then will mine 
own hand be a witness against myself. Then was I 
very shortly after, and in an evening, sent for unto her 
Majesty by Secretary Walsingham, but came not to her 
Majesty that night for that it was late; but the next 
day coming to her presence, these, or the like words she 
said, "Drake, So it is that I would gladly be revenged 
on the King of Spain for divers injuries that I have 
received'"; and said farther that he [Drake] was the 
only man that might do this exploit, and withal craved 
his advice therein. Who told her Majesty of the small 
good that was to be done in Spain, but the only way 
was to annoy him in the Indies." 

Then it is presumed Drake unfolded the whole bold 
scheme, and the queen endorsed it with ardour. But 
it was a dangerous game and must be kept a close 
secret. "He said also," the reporter records, "that her 
Majesty did swear by her crown that if any within her 
realm did give the King of Spain hereof to understand 
(as she expected too [blank, ? well]), they should lose 
their heads therefor." And she particularly "gave me," 
Drake is elsewhere quoted by this same reporter, 'spe- 
cial commandment that of all men my Lord Treas- 
urer should not know it." This was William Cecil, 
Lord Burghley, who was most strenuous for peace and 
spoke of the war advocates as "comforters of pirates." 
The queen promised to subscribe a thousand crowns to 
the venture. And that this she did the reporter gives 
evidence: "Then with many more words he [Drake] 
shewed forth a bill of her Majesty's adventure of looo 



In Ireland 195 

crowns which he said that sometime before her Majesty 
did give him towards his charge." 

So well was the secret kept that when the preparations 
were all completed, and the expedition was about to de- 
part, the alert Spanish agent in England, De Guaras, 
reported to his home government that "Drake the pi- 
rate was to go to Scotland with some little vessels for 
the purpose of kidnapping the Prince of Scotland." 
The real destination, too, was withheld from the men 
enlisted for the voyage. Only the few in Drake's con- 
fidence knew that the aim was the dreaded Straits of 
Magellan and the Pacific. 

Thus this momentous expedition set sail, on the fif- 
teenth day of November, 1577: and again, like Drake's 
previous venture for Nombre-de-Dios, in the height of 
a war fever. 



XVII 
CIRCUMNAVIGATING THE GLOBE 

IT was a gallant fleet and a gallant crew that Drake 
assembled for this daring voyage into an untried 
sea. The squadron comprised five small ships 
equipped and officered as follows: 

I. The "PeHcan," afterward the "Golden Hind": 
admiral, or flag-ship. One hundred tons burden. Car- 
rying eighteen guns. Captain-general, Francis Drake. 
Master, Thomas Cuttill. 2. The "Elizabeth": vice- 
admiral. Eighty tons. Sixteen guns. Captain, John 
Wynter. Master, WiUiam Markham. 3. The "Mar- 
igold": a bark. Thirty tons. Sixteen guns. Captain, 
John Thomas. Master, Nicholas Anthony. 4. The 
"Swan": a fly-boat. Fifty tons. Five small guns. Cap- 
tain, John Chester. Master, John Sarriold. 5. The 
"Benedict" (afterward exchanged for a Portuguese 
fisherman which was renamed the "Christopher"): a 
pinnace. Fifteen tons. One gun. Captain, Thomas 
Moone. 

These were all fitted like regular ships of war. 
Along with their guns they were provided with an 
abundance of chain-shot, "wild-fire" or "fireworks," 

196 



Circumnavigating the Globe 197 

harquebuses, pistols, bows and arrows, and corselets for 
soldiers. Four pinnaces were carried in parts, as on 
the previous voyage, to be set up in smooth water as 
occasion served. The furnishings were also most com- 
plete, even elaborate. The flag-ship especially was pro- 
vided with "rich furniture" and "divers shews of all 
sorts of curious workmanship." The vessels for the 
captain-general's table were all of pure silver, maybe 
articles that Drake had previously taken with his 
Spanish prizes. So, too, of silver were many of the 
utensils in the cook-room. "Expert musicians" were 
enlisted to play at formal dinners or on occasions of 
state. This display, the authorised narrative of the 
voyage would have us understand, Drake provided 
particularly that "the civility and magnificence of his 
native Country might amongst all the Nations whither- 
soever he should come, be the most admired." Some 
merchandise, trinkets, and baubles were taken on, for 
barter with or gifts to savage peoples who might be met 
on the voyage. 

The company in their way were as notable as the 
ships. They were in all one hundred and sixty-four 
"able and sufficient men." The strength of the crews 
is set down at about one hundred and fifty. The oth- 
ers were gentlemen volunteers — gentlemen-at-arms — 
skilled artisans of various kinds, and two cartographers. 
Among the mariners and gentlemen were a number who 
had sailed with Drake before. First among the gentle- 
men, as Drake's nearest friend, was Thomas Doughty. 
Others were Doughty's younger brother, John Doughty; 



igS The Boy's Drake 

Francis Pretty, who wrote the narrative of the voyage 
which is given in Hakluyt's Principal Navigations; 
George Fortesque, writer of another sketch of the 
voyage; Leonard Vicary, a "crafty lawyer," as Drake 
later termed him, a close friend of Thomas Doughty; 
William Hawkins, a nephew of John Hawkins. Two 
Drakes were here besides the captain-general. These 
were Thomas Drake, Francis's youngest brother, and 
John Drake, a bright lad, the captain-general's page, 
and apparently not related to him. Of the ships' cap- 
tains, John Wynter, of the "Elizabeth," is supposed to 
have been a relation of Sir William Wynter of the Ad- 
miralty and nominated by him for this captaincy. 
John Thomas, of the "Marigold," was presumably 
nominated to his position by Sir Christopher Hatton. 
John Chester, of the "Swan," is conjectured to have 
been a connection of Sir William Chester a former lord- 
mayor of London and in his day a foremost "merchant 
prince," but now retired. Thomas Moone, of the little 
"Benedict," and afterward of the "Christopher," was 
the faithful carpenter and devoted follower of Drake, 
the same who sailed with our captain on his previous 
American voyages, and who scuttled the earlier " Swan," 
at the captain's bidding, and loyally kept the secret 
between them. That other true friend of the captain, 
and his right hand on the previous voyage, John Oxen- 
ham, who had vowed, "by God's grace," to be with 
Drake in sailing the first English ship on that wondrous 
sea, was missing from this company. Alas! he was 
dead, hanged by the Spaniards at Lima, Peru, as a pi- 



Circumnavigating the Globe 199 

rate. Having waited in England above two years for 
Drake to make his start, Oxenham had organised a slen- 
der expedition with a single ship and seventy men, and 
attempted a dash on his own account. He had sailed 
to Porto Bello; had marched his men across the isthmus 
together with a number of Cimaroons; had entered the 
Pacific in a pinnace that he had built on a river's bank; 
had dropped over to the Pearl Islands in the bay of 
Panama; had taken some prizes with treasure from 
Peru; had finally himself been captured with his band, 
after hot fighting; and failing to produce a commission 
from his queen had been sentenced to death with the 
others as "pirates and common enemies of mankind," 
and executed at Lima with two of his chief men, while 
the others were hanged at Panama. Of his fate, and 
probably of his enterprise, Drake at this time was 
unaware. 

The expedition was well provisioned for a long voy- 
age, although Drake expected to obtain fresh provisions 
along his way from prizes that he was sure to take and 
at points where he would make landings. 

The true story of this marvellous exploit, as it proved 
to be, can be gleaned only by a study of all the con- 
temporary accounts extant. No one of them is com- 
plete or trustworthy in every particular. On some 
points they are contradictory. The most elaborate and 
what is termed the authorised narrative, because it was 
prepared and published by the representatives of the 
Drake family, is marred by too close "editing" in parts, 
especially in the matter of the tragedy at Port Julian 



200 The Boy's Drake 

(described in Chapter XIX). Francis Pretty's narra- 
tive, which Hakluyt gives, appears to be straightfor- 
v^ard and impartial, but it is inaccurate on several 
points of navigation in the Pacific. That knov^n as 
"Cooke's Narrative," a manuscript signed "John 
Cooke," suppHes valuable details that are in no other. 
But it carries the story only to the entrance of the 
Straits of Magellan. Other sketches also cover points 
that are dulled or not covered in the fuller narrative; 
while Spanish reports of features of the voyage illu- 
minate various passages. Therefore, rather than fol- 
low only either the authorized narrative or Francis 
Pretty's, both of which assume to be complete, we will 
take these for our basis and dovetail them with parts 
from the other narratives, sketches, and reports. Thus 
we shall have the story as nearly accurate as the con- 
flicting materials will permit. 

The authorised narrative is the account which 
Drake's heir and nephew, Sir Francis Drake, Bart., 
published in continuation of his Sir Francis Drake 
Revived, where we found the narrative of the previous 
voyage of 1572-73. It Is presented under this expan- 
sive title: 

THE WORLD encompassed by Sir Francis Drake 
Being his next Voyage to that to Nombre de Dios 
formerly Imprinted. Carefully collected out of the 
Notes of Master Francis Fletcher, Preacher in this 
imployment, and divers others his followers in the 
same; 



ir r rancis uraKe 

Calling vpon this Dull or EfTemiiiacc Agc^, 
to foiowe his Noble Steps for Golcle Sc Silucr, 



By this Memorable Relation , of the Rare Occurrances 

(nciier yet declared to the World ) in a Third Voyage ^ 

made by hiai into the Wdi-IndicSjinchcYeares yz.Uf^. 

Vfhtn Newi're de'Dios washy hiinmd 52. others 

only in his Company, furprifcd, 

Faitlifiilly taken ov.tof iheKc^orte of-M- - Chrf/iaftr Geelj, UBi 

Ilixerjg apd others, who were in thefatae Voyage with him. 

Reviewed alfo By S*^- FrafsmPrahhimfelk before Ws Death, 

& Muchholpen and enlarged, by diuers NotsSj with hisewnc 
hand here aad there lafcitcd. 

•Set forth by$>^- Frmdi^uke-BAmm^ 
(his Nephew) now Kulng. 




LONDO 
Printed by B. J. for ^ishotas Bmme dwelling it the 



-g..^t^c.> f>i,-. ff^^irv^,i^„ffe, ifir/e,. . 



FAC-SIMILE OF TITLE-PAGE OF " SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 
REVIVED." 



Circumnavigating the Globe 201 

Offered now at last to the publique view both for the 
honour of the actor, but especially for the stirring up 
of heroick spirits, to benefit their countrie, and eternize 
their names by like noble attempts. London. Printed 
for Nicholas Bourne and are to be sold at his shop 
at the Roy all Exchange, 1628. 

It is composed from Fletcher's notes which carry 
the voyage into the Pacific; from Pretty's account 
from the point where the chaplain's notes end; and 
from sketches of others with the fleet. Parts of the 
Fletcher material that was not used are his notes pre- 
served in a separate print. 

The preface of The World Encompassed well sets 
forth the bravery of the undertaking. 

"... Forasmuch as the maine Ocean by right is 
the Lord's alone, and by nature left free for all men to 
deale withall, as very sufficient for all mens vse and 
large enough for all mens industry. And therefore 
that vahant enterprise, accompanied with happy suc- 
cesse, which that right rare and thrice worthy Cap- 
taine, Francis Drake atcheived [achieved] in first turn- 
ing a furrow about the whole world, doth not onely 
ouermatch the ancient Argonautes, but also outreach- 
eth, in many respects, that noble Mariner Magellanus, 
and by farre surpasseth his crowned victory. But 
hereof let Posterity judge. It shall for the present be 
deemed a sufficient discharge of duty to register the 
true and whole history of that his Voyage with as great 
indifferency of affection as a history doth require, and 



202 The Boy's Drake 

with the plaine euidence of truth, as it was left re- 
corded by some of the chiefe, and diuers other Actors 
in that Action. The said Captaine Francis Drake 
hauing in a former Voyage, in the years [i5]72 and 
[I5J73 (the description whereof is aheady imparted to 
the view of the world) had a sight, and onely a sight, 
of the South Atlantik, and thereupon either conceiu- 
ing a new, or renewing a former desire, of sailing on 
the same, in an English bottom: he so cherished 
thenceforward this his noble desire and resolution in 
himselfe, that notwithstanding he was hindred for 
some yeares, partly by secret enuie [envy] at home, and 
partly by publique seruice for his Prince and Coun- 
trie abroad (whereof Ireland under Walter Earl of 
Essex giues honourable testimonie) yet, against the 
yeare 1577 by gratious commission from his souer- 
aigne and with the helpe of diuers friends aduenturers, 
he had fitted himselfe with fiue Ships." 

The fleet dropped out of Plymouth Sound at the 
close of the fifteenth November, 1577, toward dusk, so 
quietly as almost to be unnoticed. But this start was 
a false one. By morning, reaching the Lizard, they 
met a contrary wind which forced them to put into 
Falmouth Haven. And as they lay in this haven, the 
next day toward evening there fell upon them a tem- 
pest "so terrible as few men have seen the like." All 
that night and through the following day it raged, and 
so fiercely that the wreck of the whole fleet was threat- 
ened. "But it pleased God," it is Pretty's remark, 
"to preserve us from that extremitie, and to afilict us 



Circumnavigating the Globe 203 

onely in two particulars: the mast of our Admiral 
which was the Pellican was cut overboard for the safe- 
guard of the ship, and the Marigold was driven ashore 
and somewhat bruised." This was bad enough yet 
not the whole damage, for others of the ships were 
more or less hurt. 

Accordingly it was necessary to return to Plymouth 
for repairs. This was done as soon as the weather 
permitted. They arrived back on the twenty-eighth, 
thirteen days after their starting out. The repairs 
occupied a fortnight longer. Then with *' happier 
sails" they "once more put to sea" and were off for 
good. This was the thirteenth of December. 

When they were fairly out of sight of land Drake 
gave the company the first intimation as to whither 
they were bound, by the directing of his course and by 
his naming the island Mogador as the first place of 
rendezvous should any of the fleet become separated 
from the flag-ship. So sailing with favourable winds, 
the first land they sighted was Cape Cantin on the 
Morocco coast. This was on Christmas morning. 
Coasting southward, Mogador was reached by the 
flag-ship that day. On the twenty-seventh the whole 
fleet came to anchor in a road between the island and 
the main. Here happened the first adventure. 

Four days were spent on the island in setting up 
one of the pinnaces brought in parts. The fleet riding 
at anchor attracted the natives on the main, and at 
length a group appeared at the water's brink with a 
flag of truce making signs to them. Drake sent a 



204 The Boy's Drake 

ship's boat to shore to "know what they would." 
They indicated that they would Hke to visit the ships. 
Accordingly two who appeared to be chief men were 
taken aboard, one of the boat's crew being left ashore 
as a pledge for their safe return. Drake received the 
two Moors on the flag-ship with his customary impres- 
siveness. They were ''right courteously entertained 
with a dainty banquet," and contented with gifts, 
while they were made by signs to understand that the 
fleet had come "in peace and friendship." Drake 
offering to traffic with their people for such commodi- 
ties as their country yielded, the visitors promised to 
return the next day with "sheep, capons, hennes," and 
other things. True to their word they reappeared on 
the shore at the appointed time, and with them others 
leading camels bearing wares for traffic. Again a 
ship's boat was sent them. As it touched the shore one 
of the crew, John Frye by name, who was to serve as 
the pledge in accordance with the procedure of the 
previous day, leaped out and ran toward the group 
intending "friendly to embrace" them. But to the 
astonishment of himself and his comrades, he was in- 
stantly seized, clapped upon a horse, and galloped off' 
into the country. At the same time another lot of 
Moors suddenly emerged from a hiding-place behind 
a rock and not only prevented the rescue of Frye but 
compelled his comrades to hasten back to the fleet. 
Thereupon Drake despatched the new pinnace with 
a full complement of men to recover or redeem the 
lost sailor. This party marched some distance into 



circumnavigating the Globe 205 

the country without finding him, or coming to the 
natives to deal with them for him: all having fled or 
standing off out of hailing distance. So discomfited 
they returned to the ships, and the fleet resumed the 
voyage. 

This performance as afterward learned was not so 
hostile or treacherous as it appeared. It was simply a 
device of the native king to learn for sure whether or 
not the fleet were "any forerunner of the Kings of 
Portugall," his enemy, and to get what other news he 
could at first hand. So when Frye, brought into the 
king's presence, had satisfied the monarch that the 
ships were indeed English, were under a great English 
captain, and most friendly, he was hastened back to 
the shore with an escort, carrying a present to Drake, 
and the dusky king's offer of "great courtesie and 
friendship" if Drake would use his country. When 
Frye, back to the shore, found the ships gone he was 
greatly grieved. But the king treated him well, and 
not long after sent him home to England in an Eng- 
lish merchant-ship which had come into the harbour. 
His only misfortune, therefore, though no slight one, 
was his being bereft of the joy of continuing with his 
beloved captain on the marvellous voyage. 

From Mogador, which was left on the thirty-first 
of December, the course was toward Cape Blanco, 
Drake's evident intention being to coast along shore 
and intercept Spanish or Portuguese fishing-boats from 
the Canaries, and further supply the fleet with pro- 
visions from these craft. Mogador had barely been 



2o6 The Boy's Drake 

left when contrary winds and foul weather were en- 
countered. These conditions continued till the fourth 
of January. Yet the course was held, and before the 
weather cleared three canteras — Spanish fishing-smacks 
— had been captured by the new pinnace. Farther along 
the pinnace took a Portuguese caravel. Then the 
"Marigold" took another. Cape Blanco was finally 
reached on the sixteenth of January. Sheltered within 
the cape was a Spanish ship riding an anchor from 
which all her crew, save "two simple mariners" had 
fled upon the fleet's approach. She also was seized and 
added to the spoil. With these prizes Drake anchored 
in an inlet behind Cape Blanco. 

Here a stay of four days was made. The time was 
occupied in cleaning and trimming the ships, in tak- 
ing on fresh provisions, and in military drill. Drake 
mustered the company and trained them "in warlike 
manner to make them fit for all occasions." Thomas 
Doughty acted as drill-master. While here an inci- 
dent occurred which reflected credit upon Drake in 
that he would be no trafficker in human beings. "Cer- 
tain of the people of the country" brought to him a 
Moorish woman with a babe at her breast, to be sold 
"as a horse, or a cow and calf by her side." But he 
would have none of such trade, for, says the narrator 
(Fletcher), "in which sort of merchandise our generall 
would not deale." His kindly nature, also, was here 
exhibited. This people had great need of fresh water, 
and they brought leathern bags to be filled, offering to 
buy the luxury from the Englishmen, "they cared not 



Circumnavigating the Globe 207 

at what price." But, ''the circumstances whereof con- 
sidered, our generall would receive nothing of them 
for water, but freely gave it them that came to him." 
And his own supply was in need of replenishing. He 
also fed them with the fleet's victuals. Their manner 
of devouring the food shocked the English chaplain. 
It was not only "uncivill and unsightly to us, but even 
inhumane and loathsome in itself." Before the com- 
pany re-embarked, the prizes, having been discharged 
of such of their cargoes as was desired for the fleet, 
were all released except two: one of the caravels and 
a cantera of forty tons. The former when taken was 
bound for "St. Jago" (Sao Thiogo or Santiago) of the 
Cape Verde Islands for a cargo of salt, and she was 
retained to be discharged upon the fleet's arrival there. 
The cantera was added permanently to the squadron, 
and her owner was given in exchange the "Benedict" 
pinnace. Captain Moone was transferred to her charge, 
and she was christened the "Christopher." 

Leaving Cape Blanco, the fleet next made for the 
Cape Verde Islands, whence the course was to be di- 
rected south and south-west through the boundless sea 
to the far-distant coast of the Brazils. It was Drake's 
purpose first to touch at Maio in the hope of there 
taking on a sufficient quantity of fresh water to last till 
the Brazils were reached. Maio was attained on the 
twenty-eighth of January, and the fleet again came to 
anchor "under the wester part towards St. Jago." 
Landing was made "in hope of traflfique with the in- 
habitants" for the desired supplies. A Portuguese set- 



2o8 The Boy's Drake 

dement was found not far from the shore, comprising 
"a great number of desolate and ruinous houses" with 
"a poor naked Chappel or Oratory." The few peo- 
ple met refused to traffic because "forbidden by the 
King's edict." The next morning a party of sixty- 
two men under Captain Wynter, of the "Elizabeth," 
and Thomas Doughty, were marched some three miles 
to the chief place of habitation for a further quest. 
When they arrived the inhabitants had fled. After 
feasting joyously upon "very ripe and sweete grapes," 
and other luscious fruits found in abundance, and co- 
coa nuts, new to their taste, they returned to the ships 
empty-handed. Disappointed here, sails were hoisted 
and the fleet moved farther on. Sao Thiago was 
passed the next day, and far enough ofi^ for the fleet to 
escape the shot of two "great pieces" which the Por- 
tuguese inhabitants fired at them. This salute was 
accepted as in honour of the fleet and the captain- 
general, or "rather to signifie that" the givers of it 
were "provided for an assault." Whichever its intent 
the gallant flag-ship returned an answering one from 
her guns. 

While thus coasting, they espied two large Portu- 
guese ships sailing out from port. Suddenly these ves- 
sels put about and appeared to be hastening back to 
get under the shore batteries. Hot chase was given 
them and one was overhauled before reaching cover. 
She was boarded without resistance and found to be 
bound for the Brazils rich laden. Her cargo was in 
large part wines. She also carried "much good cloth, 



circumnavigating the Globe 209 

both Hnnen and woollen besides other necessaries." On 
board her were "many Gentlemen and Marchants," 
as passengers, and her navigating officer was a skilled 
pilot experienced in South American waters. This was 
a great capture, and this ship was to play an impor- 
tant part, as it happened, in the South Atlantic voyage. 
Drake put Thomas Doughty, "as his good and espe- 
cial friend," in charge of her, with a prize crew of 
which brother Thomas Drake was one. Doughty was 
particularly charged to see that the cargo was kept 
unbroken till Brava was reached. Brava, the most 
southerly of the Cape Verdes, was to be the ren- 
dezvous whence the long pull to the Brazils was to be 
made. 

The fleet sailed on, and that night came up with 
Fogo, the weird "burning island," with its belching 
volcano. Fogo filled the company with awe. The 
fire from the volcano broke out four times an hour and 
with such "violence and force" that it gave "light Hke 
the Moone a great way off," and seemed as if it "would 
not stay till it" touched "the heavens themselves." 
Little Brava was reached the next morning. The con- 
trast that this placid isle presented with grim Fogo 
was most cheering. "Pleasant and sweet" was it to 
their eyes, covered with trees "alwaies green and fair 
to look upon," and with "silver streams running from 
the banks into the sea." It was found to be a "store- 
house of many fruits and commodities." And, strange 
to say, there appeared to be only one habitation and a 
single inhabitant of this little paradise — a Robinson 



2IO The Boy's Drake 

Crusoe without his Friday. This hermit, probably a 
Portuguese, was "so deHghted in his soHtary Hving" 
that he "would by no meanes abide" their "coming, 
but fled, leaving behind him the relicks of his false 
worship [the Protestant chaplain is here the narrator]; 
to wit, a cross, with a crusifix, an altar with his super- 
altar, and certain other Idols of wood of rude work- 
manship." 

Upon arriving at this rendezvous, word was brought 
to Drake by his trumpeter of trouble on the Portu- 
guese prize with charges against Doughty. Two or 
three of the prize crew accused Doughty of purloining 
things from the cargo which he was there to protect 
intact. They protested that he was not to be trusted 
any longer, "least he might robb the voyage and de- 
prive the company of their hope and her Majesty and 
the other adventurers of their benefitt to inrich him- 
self, make himself the greater to the overthrow of all 
others." This statement is Cooke's. It was the un- 
written law in prize-taking that the plunder should be 
formally and equally divided, none to help himself to 
the smallest or least valuable article. 

Drake immediately went aboard the prize to inquire 
into the matter. Doughty met him with accusations 
against Thomas Drake of the pilfering with which he 
had been charged. Cooke gives the details of the 
charge, evidently reporting what Doughty had told 
him. But nothing is said about finding anything on 
Thomas Drake, while Doughty was found in posses- 
sion of several articles. The latter fact Cooke does 



Circumnavigating the Globe 211 

not mention: it appears in Fletcher's notes. These 
articles Fletcher says were "certain pares [pairs] of 
Portugall gloves, some few peeces of mon[e]y of a 
strange coine, and a small ring." They were, how- 
ever, not purloined but, he declares, were openly given 
Doughty by one of the Portuguese passengers out of 
the latter's own chest ''in hope of favour"; and the 
whole lot "not worth the speaking of." But Drake 
thought differently. The passengers' belongings were 
as definitely of the cargo as was the merchandise in the 
hold. Doughty of all men, the captain of the prize, 
bound scrupulously to abide by his orders, should take 
not a thing from its contents, not even a present from 
crew or passenger, his temporary prisoners. So Drake 
turned upon his hitherto trusted friend in a rage. He 
wondered what Master Doughty "should meane to 
touche [accuse] his brother." There must be some 
deeper motive than appeared. It looked as If it were 
at Francis Drake he was aiming behind the brother. 
That he meant to "shoot at," or sap Drake's own 
credit with the company. This Drake "would not nor 
could not, by Gods lyfe as he sware, suffer it." Then 
he ordered Doughty back to the "Pelican," and as- 
signed brother Thomas to his place, himself remaining 
with the prize. 

Now Drake released the prisoners on board — the 
captain and crew, and the "many gentlemen and 
marchants" — all save one, the skilled pilot, not only 
without ransom, beyond the ship and its contents, but 
with the gift of a ship from his own fleet well provl- 



212 The Boy's Drake 

sioned, by which they might all comfortably return to 
their port, or go whither they would. This act sur- 
prised not only the rich Portuguese passengers, but 
also some of the new men of his company who were not 
acquainted with his courtly customs as a "sea King." 
The former rejoiced that they had escaped with their 
lives, and thought the great captain most generous. 
The ship given in exchange was the new pinnace; and 
its stock of provisions included a butt of wine (prob- 
ably from the prize's own cargo), some bread, and fish. 
All the released prisoners were allowed their wearing 
apparel. The pilot was retained because of his knowl- 
edge of South American seas. He was a Portuguese 
mariner, Nuno da Silva by name. It is said that 
Drake told him of his project to enter the Pacific by 
way of the straits and offered to take him into service 
for the voyage, and that the offer was gladly accepted. 
Be this as it may, Da Silva proved a trusty and effi- 
cient guide till his discharge by Drake on the Pacific 
coast: and he afterward prepared a report of his ex- 
periences in this service which contributes some illu- 
minating details to the story of the voyage, as we shall 
see later on. 

The released prisoners departed with the well- 
stocked pinnace on the first day of February, and the 
Portuguese prize was added to the fleet, further stocked 
as an extra victualler. Then, the next day, February 
second, all sails were set for the long cruise south and 
south-westward below the equinoctial line. Hence was 
to be followed the course of Ferdinand Magellan, the 



Circumnavigating the Globe 213 

discoverer of the straits that were given his name a 
half-century before. 

The next rendezvous was to be the river Plata. 
Not till this announcement did the company, except 
the men closest to Drake, learn that they were now 
bound for the coast of the Brazils and for the straits 
leading to the Pacific. 



XVIII 

IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC 

At the departure from the Cape Verde Islands 
^^~j^ Drake was still on the Portuguese prize, now 
called the "Mary." Doughty, on the " Pelican," 
was acting as Drake's representative and as such assum- 
ing the command above the flag-ship's master. Before 
the start Drake had forgiven him through the inter- 
cession of Leonard Vicary, the "crafty lawyer"; and 
it may have been upon this restoration to favour that 
Doughty presumed so to act. He had assumed com- 
mand, it seems, soon after coming aboard from the 
prize. Causing the boatswain to call the ship's com- 
pany together, he had made them an "oration" as 
craftily drawn as the "crafty lawyer" could have 
framed it. There had been "great travails, fallings 
out, and quarrels" among them, he began, and every 
one had been "uncertain whom to obey because there 
were many who took upon them to be masters": 
therefore the general "by his wisdom or discretion" 
had "set down order that all things might be the bet- 
ter done with peace and quietness." Since he could 
not himself be in two places at once and "must needs 

214 



In the South Atlantic 215 

look to the prize which must do" them "all good," he 
had sent him, Doughty, "as his friend whom he 
trusted to take charge in his place," with special 
commandment to declare "that all matters by-past are 
forgiven or forgotten upon this condition: that we 
have no more of your evil doings hereafter." He was 
to tell them that in the general's absence they must 
obey the master of the ship in "their business, as 
touching navigation," but for all other matters him- 
self. Moreover, he asserted that, "as the General had 
his authority from the queen and the council ... to 
punish at his discretion with death or other ways of- 
fenders," the general had committed the same author- 
ity to him, in his absence "to execute upon those who 
are malefactors." And with this extraordinary state- 
ment he declared "whosoever offendeth" should "feel 
the smart." Then adjuring them to " be honest men," 
and expressing his hope that they would so conduct 
themselves that he would not have cause to lay upon 
them "which I have power to do," he dismissed them. 
It was indeed a bold speech. It was an attempt, as 
the naval historian Corbett clearly sees, to circumscribe 
the master's authority and to usurp the control of the 
flag-ship, by playing upon the long-time jealousies be- 
tween the mariners and the soldiers of ships of war. 
The soldier, as Corbett says, at that time was still the 
only recognised fighting man, the sailor but the instru- 
ment to carry him to the scene of action. Corbett 
admits it to be possible that Doughty as the principal 
soldier on board considered himself entitled to com- 



21 6 The Boy's Drake 

mand over the head of the master, but it is incredible, 
he holds, that Drake, had he really the power of life 
and death, would have delegated this power to any one, 
and least of all, under the circumstances, to this one. 
That Doughty was thought to have been too "premp- 
torye" and to have "exceeded his autority, taking 
upon him too great a command," was the statement of 
even the chaplain Fletcher, his would-be apologist. 

All went well for a while. But in mid-ocean com- 
plaints of Doughty's conduct on the flag-ship came to 
Drake. These were brought by the trumpeter, John 
Brewer. The trumpeter had been sent to the flag-ship 
on some errand, and returned with reports of Doughty's 
abuse of his authority. There were graver reports of 
an attempt by somebody to tamper with the flag-ship's 
crew to incite them to mutiny. It was even definitely 
charged that Doughty, after winning the confidence of 
the flag-ship's master, had tempted him to desert the 
fleet and take to piracy. Whether these charges were 
included among the complaints does not appear. But 
whatever was the trumpeter's story it was sufficient to 
rouse Drake to severe measures against his forgiven 
friend. The ship's boat was forthwith sent back to the 
"Pelican" with orders to bring Doughty into Drake's 
presence. 

When she returned with the culprit Drake was in 
the midst of divine service. Hearing the boat at the 
ship's side Drake (the account is Cooke's) "stode 
[stood] up: and Mastar Dowghty offering to take holde 
of the shipe to have entered, quoth the Generall: 



In the South Atlantic 217 

'Staye there, Thomas Dowghty, for I must send you 
to an other place': and with that comaunded the mary- 
nars [mariners] to rowe hym [Doughty] aborde the 
Fleeboate [the fly-boat " Swan "], sayenge [saying] vnto 
hym it was a place more fit for hym then [than] that 
from whence he came." Doughty craving to speak 
with the captain was denied. And so, Fletcher adds, 
the general "removed the said Douhty prisoner into 
the flye boat with utter disgrace." 

For more than two months after leaving the Cape 
Verde Islands the fleet were out of sight of land. At 
about "the line" (equator) they were becalmed for 
three weeks, "yet subject to divers great storms, ter- 
rible lightnings, and with thunder." 

Strange sights were seen on this strange journey — 
strange to most of them — on the "vast gulph. As 
our eyes did behold the wonderful works of God in his 
creatures which he had made innumerable both small 
and great beasts in the great and wide Seas: so did 
our mouths taste, and our natures feed, on the good- 
ness thereof in such fulness at all time and in every 
place, as if he had commanded and enjoyned the most 
profitable and most glorious works of his hands to 
wait upon us . . . with a particular test of his fatherly 
care over us all the while." So wrote the good chap- 
lain. The "particular test" of the divine care the 
chaplain found in the provision of drinking water 
vouchsafed them. They had failed of the full supply 
that they had hoped to get at the Cape Verde Islands for 
this long voyage, but their store as it ran low was re- 



21 8 The Boy's Drake 

peatedly replenished by heavy rains, which the Heav- 
enly Father, he was sure, sent for their benefit. While 
they often encountered adverse winds and unwelcome 
storms, and felt " the effects of sultry heat, not without 
the affrights of flashing lightnings and terrifyings of 
often claps of thunder," yet with all was an " admixture 
of many comforts." Among the strange things of the sea 
of which they took heedful notice were the flying-fish, 
with "finnes of the length of his whole body from bulk 
to the top of the taile, bearing the forme and supply- 
ing the like use to him that wings do to other creat- 
ures." These fish they did not come upon in such 
vast numbers as did Magellan to whom they seemed 
to "form an island in the seas." But at one time a 
"multitude" of them in their flight fell into the ships 
amongst the men. 

The landfall was, at length, made on the fifth of 
April. It was the coast of Rio Grande do Sul, the 
southern tip of the Brazils. When they were yet some 
distance off "great and huge" fires were seen arising 
from various points along the shore. They drew in 
under bright skies to make a harbour in what seemed 
a fair bay, and on the low shore natives were observed 
deporting themselves as if inciting them to land. Then 
something very strange and startling happened. As 
they were about to enter the fair bay suddenly the 
sight of land was taken from them, and the ships lost 
sight of each other. They were enveloped in "such 
a haziness as if it had been a most deadly fogg," with 
"the palpabel darkeness of Egipt." In the "neck" 



In the South Atlantic 219 

of the fog burst a storm of unprecedented fury, "as if 
heaven and earth had gon[e] together." Had not the 
Portuguese pilot, Da Silva, familiar with this coast, 
"been appointed by God to do" them "good," all 
must have perished and been heard of no more. In 
the awful darkness and tempest his voice was heard 
crying a return seaward as best they could, each ship 
for herself. In scurrying out one of the ships "touched 
with the shoals." But "by God's providence" she 
"came cleere away." When at sea the dispersed fleet 
came together again all save one — the "Christopher," 
of which nothing was to be seen. 

This amazing change from serene to tempestuous 
weather, with the threatened wreck of the whole squad- 
ron, was charged by many of the company to sorcery. 
All were sure of this when afterward they heard a tale 
which the Portuguese pilot told of the natives of this 
particular point of the coast and their customs. It 
was given as no common sailors' yarn, nor as a legend. 
It was related as a sober statement of fact, and as such 
it was accepted undoubtingly. For, we must remem- 
ber, that was an age of superstition, of unquestioned 
faith in witchcraft, and in conjurations. It was a 
common belief among sailors that sorcery could and 
did produce foul weather. 

This was the pilot's story. The "great and huge" 
fires that had been seen springing up ashore as the 
fleet were approaching had been kindled by the sav- 
ages upon descrying them, "for a sacrifice to devils." 
These people had been in miserable bondage to Portu- 



220 The Boy's Drake 

guese coming to their country. Rather than endure 
this tyranny they had fled from their "natural soil and 
inheritance" to these remote parts of the land. But 
still they had been pursued with relentless persecution; 
their enemies were determined to "root them out" 
from "the face of the earth." Wherefore they had 
been driven to yield themselves unto the "hands of 
divells" and to take them for their "patrons and pro- 
tectors." Whenever ships were sighted approaching 
their coast the aid of these "ministering spirits" was 
invoked to wreck them. In this invocation were in- 
termixed "many and divers ceremonies of conjura- 
tions." The sand of the shores was first gathered up 
and thrown into the air, whereupon there would sud- 
denly arise "such a hazinesse as a most gross and thick 
fogg," with "a palpable darknesse that the land can- 
not be seen, no nor the heavens." Then they would 
hurl more sand toward the heavens, in increasing quan- 
tities, and as these multipHed "shoals increast in the 
way of the shipps in the seas to ground them: and 
withall such horrible, fearful, and intollerable winds, 
raines, and stormes, that there is no certainty of life 
one moment of tyme." By these practices of the 
black art, the narrator assured his listeners, did they 
overthrow the Portuguese whenever these came "with 
their armies of men and their armathos [armadas], that 
is, their huge shipps of warr, against them." Many 
such had been cast away, and "non[e] that ever came 
in the dance did ever escape." From its uncanny 
reputation Portuguese seamen had come to hold this 



In the South Atlantic 221 

part of the coast to be enchanted, and had given it the 
name of "Terra Demonum" (Demonland). Because 
these natives supposed that only their enemies trav- 
elled the seas in ships, they had taken the English for 
Portuguese, and so, the narrator concluded, practised 
their conjurations as usual upon them. That their 
"devilish intent" was frustrated the chaplain rever- 
ently credited to the intervention of the hand of God. 

After a week of further sailing, sometimes to the 
seaward, sometimes toward the shore, but always 
southward as near as they could, and ever on the out- 
look for the missing ''Christopher," the fleet at length 
arrived at the rendezvous — the river Plata. 

Entering the river they sailed up it some six or seven 
leagues, and then came to anchor under a headland. 
The next day, to their great relief, the "Christopher'* 
joined them here. In thanksgiving for her reappear- 
ance Drake named the headland "Cape Joy." The 
point is conjectured to be near Montevideo, Uruguay. 
Here sweet and wholesome water was taken in and 
the country round about enjoyed. It was "very faire 
and pleasant to behold," and was "stored with plentie 
of large and mightie deere." But it was not a suitable 
place for the work of cleaning the ships, now much 
clogged and foul, which Drake was anxious to have 
done. Therefore on the day of the "Christopher's" 
coming, the squadron sailed some twelve leagues 
farther in the river. Here another and more sheltered 
harbour was found in an "Hand of Rocks" not "farre 
from the main." But this proved no more satisfac- 



222 The Boy's Drake 

tory than the first anchoring-place. Still they re- 
mained here through four days doing some work and 
having some play. Among other pastimes the sailors 
hunted seals, which then resorted to these rocks in 
great abundance. Next a harbour was attempted the 
farther in, but with no better success. 

From these experiences Drake was satisfied that no 
suitable place for his purpose was to be found in the 
river. So he ordered the squadron seaward again, to 
seek a haven somewhere on the main. A fortnight 
had been spent in the river and it was left with some 
regrets, for the company's sojourn here had been most 
refreshing. 

Drake was now leading again in the "Pelican." As 
the fleet all together were bearing out to sea, at night, 
the fly-boat "Swan," on which Doughty was still re- 
tained in disgrace, unaccountably disappeared. Soon 
after contrary winds were met: then a succession of 
storms. With these happenings the belief was seem- 
ingly possessing Drake that Doughty was responsible 
for the foul weather: that he was really a "conjurer 
and witch" and was producing the tempests by sor- 
ceries. Some time before young John Doughty had 
boasted among the sailors that both he and his brother 
could "conjure." They could "raise the devil and 
make him to meet any man in the likeness of a bear, a 
lion," he had declared. Drake may have heard of 
these boasts. At all events, at every coming of threat- 
ening obstacles to his progress he would inveigh against 
Doughty as the occasioner of them. The contrary 



In the South Atlantic 223 

wind or the fierce storm had come out of "Tom 
Doughty's cap-case," he would say. All this intensi- 
fied his feeling that Doughty was indeed the arch- 
enemy of the expedition, and must sooner or later be 
dealt with severely else the voyage would be over- 
thrown. For several days they kept the sea on a 
southerly course, or coasted the shore, seeing nothing 
of the "Swan" and finding no suitable haven. On 
the eighth of May, in a storm, the "Christopher" 
again disappeared. 

Four days later they were obliged, by stress of 
weather, to come to anchor under a cape "in 47 deg." 
This is supposed to have been Cape Tres Puntas on 
the Patagonian coast. By this headland was discov- 
ered a bay which seemed to promise the good and com- 
modious harbour they had been so long seeking. So 
Drake called the headland "Cape Hope." Many 
rocks lay off the bay, and they dared not venture the 
ships into it till it had been examined. This survey 
Drake would intrust to no one, however skilful: he 
must make It himself. Accordingly the morning after 
their arrival a boat was lowered from the "Elizabeth," 
and he with a trusty crew rowed off for an inspection. 
As they neared the shore a native suddenly appeared 
on the strand, singing and dancing to the accompani- 
ment of a rattle which he shook In his hand, and ap- 
parently Inviting them to land. But as suddenly as 
he had shown himself a thick fog fell and a tempest 
broke out — just as had happened when the fleet first 
approached the Brazils. The little boat enveloped in 



224 The Boy's Drake 

the mist was now three leagues from the ships. She 
endeavoured to return, but would surely have been 
lost had not Captain Thomas of the "Marigold," 
"upon the abundance of his love and service to his 
generall," as Chaplain Fletcher approvingly notes, 
bravely dashed with his ship, regardless of perils, into 
the bay and rescued the boat. Then with Drake and 
his boat's crew safe on board her, she anchored under 
the lee of the headland, while the other ships were 
forced by the storm to run off to sea again. Mean- 
while the "Christopher" had been recovered and had 
gone to sea with the others. 

The next morning opening fair with a moderate 
wind, Drake again took the ship's boat and this time 
made the shore. His particular errand was to set up 
fires as a beacon to the dispersed ships to reassemble 
in this road. In good time all were come once more 
together, except the "Mary," the Portuguese prize, 
of which brother John Drake was now in charge, 
and the "Swan." The "Mary" had separated from 
the others during the night at sea. They remained in 
this harbour one day longer, a number of the men go- 
ing to the shore from which the natives had fled. Here 
were seen flocks of ostriches roaming about, and the 
sailors marvelled at the size of these creatures, with 
"thighs in bigness equal to reasonable legs of mut- 
ton," and at the rapidity with which they got over the 
ground on their long legs. They found that the na- 
tives caught them with decoys made of great plumes 
of feathers to resemble an ostrich's head and body, and 



In the South Atlantic 225 

set up on poles. The hunter carrying the pole, his 
body hidden by the plumes, would drive them to some 
point close to the seaside, where long nets were spread, 
and here, with the help of dogs, they were overthrown 
and made a common quarry. 

Hence sailing some leagues south and by west, two 
days later another bay was come upon, fair and safe 
in appearance. Accordingly they sailed into it, and 
the next morning drew farther in and came to anchor, 
for a stay sufficiently long to complete the work of over- 
hauling the ships. This was Point Desire, Patagonia. 
Before the close of their first day here, as soon as 
things had been set in order, Drake had renewed the 
search for the two still missing ships. He sent Cap- 
tain Wynter with the "Elizabeth" to sea southward, 
while he himself in the "Pelican" sailed northward. 
" By the good providence of God " he very soon came 
across the "Swan" and brought her safe into port. 
Wynter had no such luck, returning empty-handed. 
Now according to a plan which Drake had early de- 
cided upon, but had kept to himself — to reduce the 
squadron to three ships for the straits and Pacific voy- 
age, that the fewer number might the better keep com- 
pany, and be more compactly provisioned and manned 
— the "Swan's" freight and furnishings, crew and pris- 
oner (Doughty) were transferred to the "Pelican," and 
she was broken up: her iron-work, however, being care- 
fully saved and her wood-work kept for firewood or to be 
worked into "other implements" that might be wanted. 
Later the "Christopher" was to be similarly destroyed. 



226 The Boy's Drake 

Doughty, on the "Pelican," was imprisoned in 
greater disgrace than before, Drake having heard com- 
plaints of his conduct while on the fly-boat. There 
had been bickerings between him and Sarriold, the 
ship's master; and the charge was made that he had 
attempted to induce Chester, the captain, to assert his 
authority over the master and seize the vessel. While 
held on the "Pelican" he suffered the demeaning pun- 
ishment of being "bound to the mast." This, we are 
told, was for some "unkind speeches" he had made 
to Drake. What these "unkind speeches" were, the 
chronicler (of this incident Cooke only) does not state. 
But from a subsequent relation accredited to Drake, 
it is assumed that they had reference to the Pacific 
voyage. They were repeated urgings upon Drake, in 
the face of the frequent foul weather, to abandon this 
main object of the adventure, with warnings that in 
persisting in it he would be wantonly risking the lives 
of his company. If as has appeared, Drake was really 
convinced in his superstitious mind that Doughty was 
the wizard who could and did produce contrary winds 
and tempests at will, it is small wonder that such 
speeches should be followed by the close confinement 
of the mischief-maker. Subsequently the culprit was 
removed to the "Christopher" with his young brother 
John Doughty. 

Port Desire was the company's "abode" for fifteen 
days, from May into June. While here some inter- 
course was had with the natives, and their manners 
were observed with interest. One day when several 



In the South Atlantic 227 

of the company were on an island so near the main 
that at low water they could walk across to it, a band 
of natives appeared on the main shore leaping, dan- 
cing, holding up their hands, and making outcries as 
if inviting the strangers over. But it was now high 
water and the footway covered. Therefore Drake sent 
a boat out from the "Pelican" with gifts of trinkets for 
them. When the boat touched the shore they had 
withdrawn back to a hill. Hence they sent down two 
of their number seemingly as ambassadors to treat 
with the strangers. These came running one behind 
the other, with "a great grace trauersing their ground 
as it seemed after the manner of their warres." But 
as they neared the shore, and were yet some distance 
from the English group, they stopped stock-still. 
Thereupon the Englishmen tied a lot of the trinkets to 
the top of a long rod, and, advancing a little way tow- 
ard them, stuck the rod in the strand, with gestures 
to indicate that the gay things were gifts for them: 
then drew back to their first position. The "ambassa- 
dors" stepped cautiously to the pole and grasped the 
trinkets. Then taking some feathers from their heads, 
which they wore as ornaments, they laid them down 
on the ground together with a bone "made in the 
manner of a toothpick carved round about the top, 
and in length about six inches, and very smoothly bur- 
nished," as in recompense; and hurried back with the 
gifts to their fellows on the hill. Now Drake himself, 
with several of his "gentlemen," walked across, it be- 
ing by this time low water. The natives remained 



228 The Boy's Drake 

still on the hill, and as this august procession ap- 
proached formed in rank when a singular ceremony 
was begun. One of their number as by appointment 
issued from the ranks and ran before them from one 
end to the other and back again, repeatedly, east and 
west. As he ran he lifted his hands high over his 
head, bent his body toward "the rising and setting of 
the Sunne," and at every second or third turn sprang 
"vaultingwise from the ground towards the Moone, 
being then over our heads." This performance the 
beholders took to signify that they called the sun and 
moon, whom they worshipped as gods, to witness their 
peaceful intent toward the visitors. When the proces- 
sion started to march up the hill, the natives exhib- 
ited signs of fear or of uneasiness. Thereupon Drake 
withdrew the company and resorted to his customary 
tactics to win them. These were successful, for soon 
all came down to him on the run. A lively trajHic fol- 
lowed. The wares which the natives gave in exchange 
for the English things comprised arrows made of reeds, 
ostrich feathers, and more carved bones. 

The authorised narrative describes these natives 
minutely. They were naked save a girdle round the 
loins and a skin of fur which they cast over their 
shoulders when sitting or lying in the cold. Their 
hair was worn long, knit up with rolls of ostrich feath- 
ers. These rolls were used as quivers for their ar- 
rows and also as receptacles for most of the things 
they carried about with them. Some of them wore a 
large feather stuck in the rolls on either side of their 



In the South Atlantic 229 

heads, for a "sign of honor in their persons.^ Seen a 
distance off these feathers looked Hke horns, "so that," 
the chaplain, Fletcher, remarked, "such a head upon 
a naked body, — if divils do appeare with homes, — 
might very nigh resemble divils." Their chief bra- 
very v^as in their painted bodies. Some washed their 
faces with "sulphure or some like substance." Some 
were painted all over black, except their necks, which 
were all in white. Some painted one shoulder black, 
the other white, and the sides of the legs interchange- 
ably with the same colors. The black part was set off 
with white moons and the white part with black suns. 
This painting was supposed to be a protection against 
cold weather as well as an ornament. Their bodies 
were clean, comely, and strong, and they were swift of 
foot. They were large in stature but not quite the 
giants of whom Magellan's men had told. Their 
weapons were a short bow of about an ell in length 
and arrows of reeds headed with a flint stone cun- 
ningly cut and fastened. When once they had be- 
come acquainted, their friendship with the English 
ripened at an astonishing pace. 

The bay in which the fleet were now riding the 
Enghsh named Seal Bay because of the abundance of 
seal frequenting its islands. The authorised narra- 
tive avers that two hundred were killed in an hour. 
On these islands were also great flocks of birds and 
fowl. Of the latter many were killed with shot, but 
not a few w^re brought down with staves, while some 
were even taken with the hands, plucked from the 



230 The Boy's Drake 

heads and shoulders of comrades upon which they 
ht. 

The work laid out to be done here being finished, on 
the third of June the fleet set sail now bound for a 
port near the straits. Coasting along, on the twelfth 
they fell in with an inviting little bay, where they an- 
chored for a couple of days: long enough to discharge 
the "Christopher" and break her up as the "Swan" 
had been disposed of. Doughty and his brother were 
transferred to the "Elizabeth," in charge of Captain 
Wynter. Before delivering them to the "Elizabeth" 
Drake prepared her crew for their coming with a 
speech in denunciation of them. As Cooke relates 
with painfully ingenious spelling (the authorised narra- 
tive is silent on this point), he went aboard her and 
"callynge all the company togethar tolde them that he 
was to send thethar a very bad cople [couple] of menn 
the whiche he dyd not know how to cary alonge with 
hym this voyadge and goe throwgh ther withe all 
[therewithall], as namely, quoth he, Thomas Dowghtie 
who is, quoth he, a coiurer [conjurer] a sedytyous [se- 
ditious] and a vary badd . . fellow and one that I have 
made that reckoninge [reckoning] of as of my leste 
[least] hand, and his brother the yonge Dowghty a 
wiche [witch] a poysonar [poisoner] and suche a one as 
the worlde can judge of: I cane not [cannot] tell from 
whence he came, but from the dyvell I thinke. And 
so warninge the company that none shoulde speake to 
them nor vse eny [any] conference with them, if they 
dyd he would holde them as his enemys, eay [aye] and 



In the South Atlantic 231 

enymyes to the Voyadge, . . he willed that greate care 
sholde be taken that they shulde neythar write nor 
read. . . . With dyvars other lyke invectyves agaynst 
hym [? Doughty] he departed. And shortly aftar he 
sent the sayd Thomas Dowghty and his brothar 
aboarde the Elizabethe, commandynge them as they 
would aunswere it with theyr lyves not to set penne to 
papar, ne [nor] yet to rede but what every man myght 
vnderstand and se [see]." Master Doughty's situa- 
tion had indeed become grave. But a graver one was 
soon to follow. 

Now reduced to a squadron of three, the original 
war-ships, they again weighed. The southward course 
was kept on for three days longer. Then, on the sev- 
enteenth of June, they cast anchor in a bay "in 50 
deg. 20 min. lacking but little more than one degree of 
the mouth of the Straights through which lay our most 
desired passage into the South Sea." This bay is sup- 
posed to have been Port Santa Cruz, where Magellan 
had lain two months. 

The next most imperative duty was to make one 
more and a thorough search for the missing "Mary" 
and her crew. For should the squadron enter the 
straits without them "it must needs go hard with 
them," while their absence and the uncertainty of their 
fate would continue to give their comrades of the fleet 
"no small discomfort." Drake determined in this 
quest to survey the whole course back northward 
toward Cape Tres Puntas off which she disappeared, 
if she were not earlier found or her fate learned. So 



232 The Boy's Drake 

the next morning, June eighteenth, all put to sea once 
more, and "with heartie and often prayers" they 
"joyned watchful! industry to serue Gods good provi- 
dence," in the search. Thus sailing through that day 
and the next, as dark was falling on the second day, 
the lookouts discerned the missing ship, and straight- 
way all devoutly "gave God thankes with most ioy- 
full [joyful] minds" for the welcome sight. 

They were now within a few leagues of Port St. 
Julien, and the "Mary" being leaky and in bad con- 
dition generally from the extremity of weather which 
she had endured in her long beating about at sea, and 
St. Juhen being a convenient place to "cherish" her 
men who had "tasted such bitternesse of discomfort," 
Drake thought better to bear with the fleet hither. 
And the next day, the twentieth of June, they entered 
this sombre bay: the harbour which Magellan had dis- 
covered and occupied in 1520 and had named St. 
Julien. 

Here on the main was found a "gibbet, fallen 
downe, made of a spruce mast, with men's bones vn- 
derneath it." This the company believed to be the 
remnant of the gallows upon which Magellan had ex- 
ecuted one of his captains who had mutinied. It was 
an ominous sight, and foretokened another tragedy 
impending. 



XIX 

THE TRAGEDY OF PORT ST. JULIEN 

" T) EING now come to anchor and all things fitted 
r^ and made safe aboard, our Generall with cer- 
taine of his companie (viz., Thomas Drake, his 
brother, John Thomas, Robert Winter, Oliuer the mas- 
ter gunner, John Brewer, and Thomas Hood), rowed 
further in with a boate to find out some conuenient 
place which might yeeld vs fresh water during the 
time of our abode there and furnish vs with supply for 
prouision to take to sea with vs and our departure." 
So continues the authorised narrative. At this time 
probably the gibbet supposed to have been Magellan's 
was observed. But other matters almost immediately 
engaged the party's attention. 

Upon their landing there presently appeared before 
them "two of the inhabitants of the place whom Ma- 
gellane named Patagous, or rather Pantagours, from 
their huge stature and strength proportionable." Hence 
the names of Patagonia and Patagonian. These rep- 
resentatives of the race, and others afterward joining 
them, did not strike the Englishmen as very giant-like. 
They were tall and big, to be sure, and powerful in 

233 



234 The Boy's Drake 

appearance: but there were plenty of the Englishmen's 
own nationality as tall as they. The visitors therefore 
dismissed the accounts they had read or heard as 
"tales for the marines," as the modern phrase is, set 
forth the more confidently because the Spanish or 
Portuguese tellers had no thought that any English- 
men would dare venture in these inhospitable regions. 
The couple first appearing received the party with 
great show of friendship. They accepted Drake's ten- 
der of gifts with delight, and became at once most 
familiar. Especially were they interested in the Eng- 
glishmen's bows and arrows. By signs they proposed 
a friendly rivalry to test the powers of their own with 
the Englishmen's. Oliver, the master-gunner, ac- 
cepted the challenge, and shot, to their great astonish- 
ment, his English arrow to a point far beyond that at- 
tained by theirs. While they were "thus familiarly 
and pleasantly spending their time" suddenly ap- 
peared two other "giants," of a "sowerer sorte," "old 
and grim weather beaten villans." The chief of these 
two appeared very angry at the familiarity of their fel- 
lows with the strangers and strove to withdraw them. 
The same civilities as before were offered the new- 
comers, but were surlily received. To win them a 
repetition of the entertainment with the bows and 
arrows was proposed. This time Robert Winter — or 
Wintherhey as the name is generally given by the 
other narrators — stepped forward to make the "shot 
of pleasure" for the Enghsh side. But in letting go or 
loosing the arrow his bow-string broke. Meanwhile 



The Tragedy of Port St. Jullen 235 

the others of the party were turning to retake their 
boat. Wintherhey followed while making ready a new 
string. 

Perceiving the turn about with the disablement of 
Wintherhey's weapon, the ''giants," "supposing there 
was no other engine of warre in the world but bow 
and arrowes," were now emboldened to attack the par- 
ty. The Englishmen proceeded leisurely toward their 
boat, unaware that the natives were creeping stealthily 
behind them. Suddenly an arrow struck Wintherhey 
in the shoulder inflicting a sore wound. As he turned 
around to see whence it came, another pierced his 
lungs, and he fell. Oliver, the master-gunner, then 
aimed his caHver at the assailants. "The touch be- 
ing dankish," a rain now falling, it missed fire. In 
return, an arrow sped from the enemy and slew Oliver 
outright. His piece happened to be the only one that 
the party had. Their defence, therefore, must be 
made only with their swords and targets. In this ex- 
tremity Drake's resourcefulness was brought into fine 
play. Indeed, had he not been "expert in such af- 
faires," and had he not "valiantly thrust himselfe 
into the dance against these monsters," not one of the 
party would have escaped alive. Ordering his com- 
panions to edge toward the enemy, shifting their 
ground from place to place as they advanced, those 
having targets to receive what they might of the ene- 
my's arrows, those behind to pick up and break the 
arrows that passed the targets, he took the lead. In 
this manceuvre his object was to exhaust the enemy's 



236 The Boy's Drake 

supply of arrows: these once spent he would have the 
savages in his power. And so it happened. When it 
was apparent that they had but a single arrow left he 
brought the dead gunner's piece again into action. It 
was now charged with a bullet and hail-shot. He 
aimed it directly at one of the two of the "sourer sort," 
who was Oliver's slayer, and brought him down. The 
poor fellow was hit in the abdomen and fell with an 
awful cry, "so hideous and horrible a roare," it seemed 
to the narrator, "as if ten bulls had ioyned [joined] in 
roaring." With this the battle instantly ended. The 
strange and appalling spectacle terrorised the enemy. 
Divers others dashing out of the woods on either side 
had now joined them, yet they fled incontinently. 
And after them their re-enforcements ran away. Drake 
and his men carrying their desperately wounded com- 
rade with them made their boat without further mol- 
estation. The next day Drake returned with the 
boat, this time "well appointed," in readiness for fur- 
ther attack if attempted, to recover Oliver's body. It 
was found lying where it had been left, but stript of 
the outer garments and with an English arrow stuck 
fast in one eye. None of the natives was met. Mean- 
while this same day Wintherhey died of his wounds. 

Drake grieved at the loss of these two trusty men, 
especially of Wintherhey "whom for many good parts 
he loved dearly." He would rather have saved him, 
said he, than "slain an hundred enemies." Winther- 
hey was one of the bravest of the gentlemen-at-arms 
in the company, while Oliver was an experienced sea- 



The Tragedy of Port St. Julien 237 

gunner. Both bodies were buried on an island in one 
grave "with such reuerence as was fit for the earthen 
tabernacles of immortall soules, and with such com- 
mendable ceremonies as belong vnto souldiers of worth 
in time of warre, which they most truly and rightfully 
deserued." So concludes the chaplain's account of 
this melancholy incident given in the authorised narra- 
tive. Thereafter no more trouble was had with these 
natives. On the contrary, when they comprehended 
that Drake meant them no harm if they turned not 
against him, they became fair friends with him and 
suffered his men to do what they would without inter- 
ruption during the remainder of the stay at Port St. 
Julien, which covered two months. 

Close upon this incident came one of graver import 
culminating in the greater tragedy of Port St. Julien — 
the trial of Thomas Doughty and his execution. 

Doughty's name is nowhere mentioned in the au- 
thorised account, the culprit being designated gener- 
ally as *'the person accused." And the account is so 
edited with the manifest intent of presenting Drake's 
attitude in the best light before his critics, and so in- 
complete, that we must go to the other narrations, 
especially that of Doughty's partisan, Cooke, for the 
particulars, partially given or altogether suppressed, 
in order to have the full-rounded story. 

What the formal charge against Doughty really was 
does not clearly appear. It was certainly not quite 
as the authorised narrative's preface states it: in effect, 
his engagement before sailing, in a plot to murder 



238 The Boy's Drake 

the captain and some others faithful to him, and the 
ultimate overthrow of the ''whole action intended." 
Francis Pretty, in his narrative which Hakluyt prints, 
tells us that the inquiry was into the "actions of M. 
Thomas Doughtie" which were found "not to be such 
as he [Drake] looked for, but tending rather to con- 
tention and mutinie, or some other disorder whereby, 
without redresse, the successe of the Voyage might 
greatly have been hazarded.'* Edward Cliffe, the nar- 
rator of Captain John Wynter's part of the voyage, 
says that the culprit was accused on several articles, 
but does not name them. What they were is in- 
dicated in various manuscripts yet preserved. As 
Corbett finds them, they were in general conspiracy 
by several means to prevent the voyage going for- 
ward. 

The trial was held on the last day of June: the 
place, one of the rocky islands of the harbour. 

The whole company were assembled for the solemn 
proceedings. Gathered about Drake were the ships' 
captains and the gentlemen-at-arms, the others of the 
company forming the outer circle. At Drake's right 
stood Capt. John Thomas, as his assistant, holding a 
bundle of papers "rolled up together where in were 
written dyvers and sundry articles," or letters. 

Drake opened with an unimpassioned speech ac- 
quainting the assembly with the particulars of the 
cause. He "propounded to them the good parts that 
were in the gentleman [the accused], the great good 
will and inward affection, more then [than] brotherly, 



The Tragedy of Port St. Julien 239 

which he had euer since his first acquaintance borne 
him, not omitting the respect which was had of him 
among no meane personages in England." Yet, al- 
though his private aflPection of Doughty was great, 
"the care he had of the state of the voyage, of the ex- 
pectation of her Majestic, and of the honour of his 
countrey did more touch him" than "the private re- 
spect of one man." The letters, or papers, which he 
would deliver would disclose the gravity of the ac- 
cused's offences — letters written to him with the par- 
ticulars from time to time which had been observed 
not so much by himself as by his good friends "not 
onely at sea, but even at Plimmouth: not bare words, 
but writings; not writings alone, but actions, tending 
to the ouerthrowe of the service in hand and making 
away with his person." 

Before the articles held by Captain Thomas were 
read Drake addressed Doughty direct. The report is 
Cooke's, and, turned into modern English spelling for 
more comfortable reading, runs in this wise. 

"'Thomas Doughty, you have here sought by divers 
means, inasmuch as you may, to discredit me, to the 
great hinderance and overthrow of this voyage, besides 
other great matters wherewith I have to charge you 
withal, the which if you can clear yourself of you and I 
shall be very good friends, whereto the contrary you 
have deserved death.' 

"Master Doughty answered, 'It should never be ap- 
proved that he merited any villany towards him.' 



240 The Boy's Drake 

' By whom will you be tried ? ' 

*Why, good General, let me live to come into my 
country [England] and I will there be tried by her 
Majesty's laws.' 

'Nay, Thomas Doughty, I will here impanel a jury 
on you to inquire further of these matters that I have 
to charge you withal,' 

'Why, General, I hope you will see your commis- 
sion be good,' 

*I warrant you my commission is good enough.* 

'I pray you let us then see it. It is necessary that 
it should be here shown.' 

'Well, you shall not see it,'" 

Then turning to the assembly Drake exclaimed, 
"'Well, my masters, this fellow is full of prating. Bind 
me his arms, for I will be safe of my life. My mas- 
ters, you that be my good friends — Thomas Hood, 
Gregory — ^you there, my masters, bind him."' 

So they took him and bound his arms behind him. 
"Then he [Drake] gave divers furious words unto 
Thomas Doughty, as charging him to be the man that 
poisoned my lord of Essex [in Ireland], as he thought. 
And then again, whereas [when] Master Doughty 
avouched to his face that he [Doughty] brought him 
[Drake] first to the presence of my lord [Essex] in 
Ireland. 

" ' Thou bring me to my lord ? Lo ! my masters, see 
how he goeth about to discredit me! This fellow with 
my lord was never of any estimation. I think he never 
came about him: for I that was daily with my lord 



The Tragedy of Port St. Julien 241 



never saw him there above once, and that was long 
after my entertainment with my lord.'" 

Now Drake called a jury of about forty in number, 
comprising the "chiefest of place and judgment in 
the whole fleet," with Capt. John Wynter as foreman, 
and the trial proceeded in regular order. The jury 
heard the articles as read by Captain Thomas, and 
Doughty' s answer. None of these articles did he 
"greatly deny" till the statement of one Edward 
Bright was heard. This was a declaration that 
Doughty had told Bright in Drake's garden at Plym- 
outh, before the sailing of the expedition, that the 
queen and council were to be "corrupted." To this 
Doughty made answer, "Why, Ned Bright, what 
should move thee thus to belie me ? Thou knowest 
that such familiarity was never between thee and me. 
But it may be I said if we brought home gold we 
should be the better welcome: but yet that is more 
than I do remember." Upon further talk it fell out 
that Doughty had also said at the same time that my 
lord Treasurer — Lord Burghley — had a "plot," or 
plan, of the voyage. Whereat Drake interjected, "No! 
that he hath not!" Doughty admitted that he had. 
"How.?" demanded Drake. "He had it from me," 
answered Doughty, inadvertently. 

This roused Drake to a white heat of indignation. 
"Lo! my masters," exclaimed he to the jury, "lo my 
masters, what this fellow hath done! God will have 
his treacheries all known, for her Majesty gave me 
special commandment that of all men my lord Treas- 



242 The Boy's Drake 

urer should not know it; but see, he his own mouth 
hath betrayed him!'* 

To this outburst Doughty offered to "set his hand to 
what so was there written," meaning the articles, or 
anything else that Drake would "set down," if he 
would permit him to live and answer the charges in 
England. Drake replied, "Well, once let these men 
find whether you be guilty in this or no, and then we 
will farther talk of the matter." Upon which he de- 
livered the "bills of indictment" to Wynter, the fore- 
man. 

Then up spoke Master Leonard Vicary, the lawyer, 
and Doughty's especial friend, who was one of the 
jury, "General, this is not law, nor agreeable to jus- 
tice, that you offer." To which Drake retorted: 

"I have not to do with you crafty lawyers, neither 
care I for the law, but I know what I will do." 

"Why," answered Vicary, "I know not how we 
may answer for his life." 

"Well, Master Vicary," Drake returned curtly, "you 
shall not have to do with his life, let me alone with 
that. You are but to see whether he be guilty in these 
articles that here is objected against him or no." 

"Why, very well, then there is, I trust, no matter of 
death." 

"No, no. Master Vicary." 

With this the jury drew apart and deliberated upon 
their verdict. The authorised narrative gives it, as 
agreed upon, in these words. That ''He had de- 
serued death: And that it stoode by no meanes with 



The Tragedy of Port St. Julien 243 

their safety to let him Hue: And therefore they remitted 
the manner thereof^ with the rest of the circumstances, 
to the Generall." But Cooke adds an important quali- 
fying clause. They found all to be true without any 
doubt, he says, except on one article, and this was the 
charge of Edward Bright which had most effected 
Drake. Some of the jury doubted whether Bright 
"were sufficient with his only words," that is his word 
alone, "to cast away the life of a man." His honesty, 
too, was questioned. For, as Cooke puts it, "it dyd 
argwe [argue] small honestie in a man to conceale such 
a mattar yf [if] it had bene spoken in England," and to 
bring it out at this place where "wyll was lawe, and 
reason put in exile." But Bright was vouched for by 
others as "a very honest man." And Drake, when 
with the verdict he heard the doubt, dismissed it with 
the remark, "Why, I dare to swear that what Ned 
Bright hath said is very true." 

Upon receiving the verdict Drake, calling all the com- 
pany to follow him except Doughty and Doughty's 
brother, withdrew to the water-side. Here he opened 
a bundle of papers which he proposed to lay before 
them as bearing on the case. Turning over the lot 
he exclaimed, "God's will! I have left in my cabin 
that I should especially have had," meaning his com- 
mission. Cooke insinuates that he really had no such 
commission as he assumed. On the other hand the 
authorised narrative indicates that he had more than 
ordinary authority. It avers that before his depart- 
ure Queen Elizabeth committed to him "for his com- 



244 The Boy's Drake 

pany" her "sword to use for his safety with this word 
^ We doe account that he which stnketh at thee, Drake, 
striketh at vs.' " 

The first letter that he showed was from John 
Hawkins to Essex recommending him to the earl for 
service in the latter's campaign in Ireland. Next he 
displayed letters from Essex to Hawkins thanking 
Hawkins for sending him "so good a servitor," Next, 
letters from Essex to Secretary Walsingham in his, 
Drake's, "great commendation." Next, from Sir Chris- 
topher Hatton to himself for his acceptance into his 
company of Hatton's men, John Thomas and John 
Brewer, and their "well usage" in the voyage. Lastly, 
a bill of her Majesty's adventure of a thousand crowns 
in the enterprise. These were shown as further evi- 
dences of Doughty's treachery. "My masters," said 
he [the report is again Cooke's], "you may see whether 
this fellow hath sought my discredit or no, and what 
should hereby be meant but the very overthrow of the 
Voyage, as first by taking away of my good name and 
altogether discrediting me, and then my life." In 
such event he asked what would they do .? They 
could not carry the voyage further themselves, nor 
yet return to England with surety. Then he appealed 
to their love of gain. "Now, my masters, consider 
what a great Voyage we are like to make! The like 
was never made out of England! For by the same 
the worst [the least or the humblest] in this fleet shall 
become a gentleman. And if this Voyage go not for- 
ward, which I can not see how possible it should if 



The Tragedy of Port St. Julien 245 

this man hve, what a reproach it will be, not only unto 
our country but especially unto us, the very simplest 
here may consider of." Then he put the question 
of Doughty's fate directly to their votes. 

"Therefore, my masters, they that think this man 
worthy to die let them with me hold up their hands, 
and they that think him not worthy to die hold down 
their hands." 

Apparently most, if not all, hands went up. Cooke, 
who alone gives the account, declares that jealousy of 
the favour which Doughty had formerly had from 
Drake moved some, and fear of Drake impelled others 
to lift their hands. 

With this decisive vote Drake, followed by the com- 
pany, returned to his "judgment seat" and formally 
pronounced Doughty "the child of death," "persuad- 
ing" him "withal that he would by this means make 
him the servant of God." Yet he would give the cul- 
prit a chance to escape his doom. If any of the com- 
pany could between that and the next morrow devise 
any way that might save his life Drake would hear it. 
And to Doughty, "he wished him himself to devise 
some way for his own safeguard." Whereat Doughty 
responded: 

"Well, General, seeing it is come to this pass 
that I see you would have me made away, I pray 
you carry me with you to the Peru and there set me 
ashore." 

"No, truly. Master Doughty," Drake replied, "I 
cannot answer it to her Majesty if I should so do. 



246 The Boy's Drake 

But how say you, Thomas Doughty, if any man will 
warrant me to be safe from your hands and will un- 
dertake to keep you, sure you shall see what I will 
say unto you/' 

Thereupon Doughty, looking toward Captain Wyn- 
ter, asked of him, "Master Wynter, will you be so good 
as to undertake this for me ?" 

Wynter replied that he would. 

"Lo! then my masters," said Drake, "we must thus 
do: we must nail him close under the hatches and re- 
turn home again without making any Voyage, and if 
you will do so, say your hands." 

At this, Cooke relates scornfully, a number of "des- 
perate banckwrouptes" [bankrupts], "that could not 
lyve in theyr countrye [at home in England] without 
the spoyle of that [voyage] as others had gotten by the 
swete of theyr browes, sayd, God forbyde, good Gen- 
erall!" 

So fell this proposition. And warning Doughty to 
prepare for death, and giving him a day's respite to 
put his aflFairs in order, Drake rose and the assem- 
blage broke up. 

The second day after. Doughty was commanded to 
"make hym ready to dye" forthwith. He then ap- 
peared bearing a most "cherefull countenance," as 
"one that dyd altogethar contempne [contemn] lyfe," 
and prayed Drake that ere he died he might receive 
the sacrament. This Drake not only granted but of- 
fered to accompany him to "the Lord's table"; for 



The Tragedy of Port St. Julien 247 

which Doughty gave him hearty thanks, terming him 
affectionately "my good Captain." At the same time 
Drake gave him the privilege of choosing the manner 
of his execution. Being a gentleman he answered he 
should but lose his head, and inasmuch as he must 
needs die, that kind of death was most agreeable to 
his mind. 

Then the two together received the sacrament, the 
chaplain Fletcher conducting the service. And then, 
at the same table, the two sat down to a banquet of 
the best things that the place yielded, and dined to- 
gether "as cheerefully in sobriety as ever in their lives 
they had done aforetime: each cheering up the other, 
and taking their leave by drinking each to the other, 
as if some journey onely had beene in hand." 

A strange and dramatic spectacle indeed. And as 
this scene was enacting, the place of execution was 
being made ready hard by, and from it must have come 
to the ears of the banqueters echoes of the grewsome 
sounds. 

All was completed by the close of the dinner, and 
Doughty expressed his readiness for the final act as 
soon as it pleased his captain to order it. But first he 
would speak with Drake a few words in private. Ac- 
cordingly they "talked a parte the space of halfe a 
quarter of an houre." What was said at this inter- 
view Drake never divulged. At its conclusion, the 
procession, "with bylls and staves," marched at once 
to the block. 

Here Doughty showed himself no less "valyant 



248 The Boy's Drake 

then [than] all the tyme afore/' Falling to his knees 
he offered a prayer. He prayed first for "the queenes 
maiestie of England his sovereigne lady and mastres 
[mistress]"; then for "the happy successe of this voy- 
adge," beeseching "God to turne it to the profite of 
his contrye." He remembered also "divars his good 
frinds, and especially ser [Sir] William Wynter, pray- 
enge Mastar John Winter to comend hym to that good 
knyght," 

Rising from his prayer he addressed the captain 
with a gentle pleasantry: "Nowe truly, I may say, as 
did ser Thomas More, that he that cuts my heade 
shall have little honestie, my necke is so short." Then 
casting his glance over the assembled company he de- 
sired them all to forgive him, and "especially some 
that he dyd perceyve to have displeasure borne them 
for his sake." These were men under suspicion of 
having been his accomplices. Naming several he be- 
sought Drake to "be good" to them. He declared 
that they had never practised with him any treachery 
toward the captain. "Neyther dyd he hym selfe evar 
thinke any villanous thowght agaynst hym." 

Now embracing Drake and calling him once more 
his "good Captain," he bade him farewell, and laid 
his head upon the block. And when the head fell 
Drake caused it to be taken up and held before the 
company as he proclaimed, "Loe, this is the end of 
traytors ! " 

Throughout the ordeal the condemned gentleman 
had borne himself with such dignified bravery as to 




DOUGHTY'S BRAVE ENDING. 
They took their leave by drinking each to the other. 



The Tragedy of Port St. Julien 249 

command the admiration of all. By the worthy man- 
ner of his death, the chaplain wrote, he "fully blotted 
out whatever staine his fault might seeme to bring 
vpon him." He was buried on the island beside the 
two victims of the conflict with the natives. While 
digging the grave the men found a "great grinding 
stone broken in two parts." These pieces they utilised 
for head and foot stones of the two graves, and the 
space between them was built up with other stones and 
turf. And on the tablets were engraved the names of 
the three soldier-sailors, the dates of their deaths, and 
a "memoriel of our generalls name," all in Latin, 
"that it might be the better vnderstood of all that 
should come after." 

"These things finished and the whole company be- 
ing together," Drake solemnly, as Cooke alone records, 
"protested before God that what so evar he was shuld 
offend the viij [eighth] parte that Doughty had done, 
should dye for it." 

On the Sunday next following, Drake ordered the 
whole company to receive the sacrament, previous to 
which each man was to "confess" to the chaplain, the 
captain saying he would have all old quarrels forgiven. 
This was done. Yet in a little while the old quarrels 
were renewed. The old discord, too, between the gen- 
tlemen-at-arms and the marines was heightened as a 
result of Doughty's taking off. These dissensions came 
along with the oppression of cold, the vehemency of 
the southern winter, spare diet, and a sickness that 



250 The Boy's Drake 

fell upon several of the company. At length, when a 
month had passed since the execution, Drake saw that 
something must be done, and that vigorously, to check 
the rising demoralisation and firmly to unite the com- 
pany under his single control. 

Accordingly on the eleventh day of August he or- 
dered all hands ashore, announcing that he had some 
matter of importance to say to them. Then followed 
another dramatic performance in which our great cap- 
tain once again demonstrated his remarkable skill as 
a commander of men. 

Taking position in a tent, one side of which was 
laid open that all might plainly see and hear him, he 
called Captain Wynter to stand at his one side and 
Captain Thomas at the other while "his man," prob- 
ably the faithful Diego (the escaped negro who had 
remained attached to him since the Nombre-de-Dios 
affair) laid in front of him a "great paper book." Ob- 
serving these formalities the chaplain stepped up and 
offered to give a sermon. But the captain waved him 
aside. "Nay, soft. Master Fletcher," said he, "I 
must preach this day myself, although I have small 
skill in preaching." Then calling out to the assem- 
blage, "Be all here, yea or nay.?" and the answer 
being all present, he commanded each ship's company 
to group together. This done, and all at attention, he 
opened his discourse with these prefatory remarks. 
(The reporter again is Cooke, his spelling as before 
modernised for easier reading.) 

"My masters, I am a very bad orator for my bring- 



The Tragedy of Port St. Julien 251 

ing up hath not been in learning, but what so I shall 
here speak let every man take good notice of what I 
shall say: and let him write it down, for I will speak 
nothing but I will answer it in England, yea before 
her Majesty, as I have it here [pointing to the "great 
paper book"] already set down." Then he proceeded 
to read from his manuscript. 

"Thus it is, my masters, that we are very far from 
our country and friends. We are compassed in on 
every side with our enemies. Wherefore we are not 
to make small reckoning of a man, for we cannot have 
a man if we would give for him ten thousand pounds. 
Wherefore we must have these mutinies and discords 
that are grown amongst us redressed, for, by the life 
of God, it doth even take my wits from me to think 
on it! Here is such controversy between the sailors 
and the gentlemen, and such stomaching between the 
gentlemen and sailors, that it doth even make me mad 
to hear it! But, my masters. I must have it left 
[ .? stopped]. For I must have the gentleman to haul 
and draw with the mariner, and the mariner with the 
gentleman. What! let us show ourselves all to be of 
a company, and let us not give occasion to the enemy 
to rejoice at our decay and overthrow. I would know 
him that would refuse to set his hand to a rope. But 
I know there is not any such here. And as gentlemen 
are very necessary for government's sake in the Voy- 
age, so have I shipped them for that, and to some 
farther intent. [To train them for officers for further 
and larger operations against the Spanish-American 



252 The Boy's Drake 

colonies, as Corbett understands.] And yet, though I 
know sailors to be the most envious people of the 
world, and so unruly without government, yet may 
not I be without them. Also, if there be any here 
willing [desirous] to return home, let me understand 
of them. Here is the 'Marigold,' a ship that I can 
very well spare. I will furnish her to such as will 
return with the most credit I can give them, either to 
my letters or any way else. But let them take heed 
that they go homeward, for if I find them in my way 
I will surely sink them. Therefore you shall have 
time to consider hereof until to-morrow, for, by my 
troth, I must needs be plain with you! I have taken 
that in hand that I know not in the world how to go 
through withal. It passeth my capacity. It hath even 
bereaved me of my witts to think on it." 

At this the company as with one voice cried that 
none would return. All would take such part as their 
Captain-General should. 

"Well then, my masters," he would know, "came 
you all forth with your good wills or no .? " 

The answer returned, "they came all with their 
wills." 

Then he would ask, "At whose hands, my masters, 
look you to receive your wages ? " 
At yours. 

"Then how say you .? Will you take wages or stand 
to my courtesy ? " 

"At your courtesy. For we know not [said some] 
what wages to ask." 



The Tragedy of Port St. Julien 253 



Now having the men full in hand he turned to the 
officers. First, he commanded the steward of the 
"Elizabeth" to lay down the keys of his room. This 
was done. Next, all the ships' captains and masters 
were formally discharged from their posts, one after 
another, to their amazement and that of the company 
generally. Captains Wynter and Thomas protested, 
asking "what should move him so to displace them?" 
His answer was a query in turn: could they give any 
reason why he should not do so .? In other words, he 
was the supreme commander, to appoint or discharge 
at will. He, however, bade them be content, and 
probably they were not long in discerning his motive. 
With these summary acts he resumed his speech, 
and came to a representation of the Doughty offences. 
"You see here the great disorders that we are entered 
into. And although some have already received con- 
dign punishment as by death, who, I take God to wit- 
ness, as you all know, was to me as my other hand; yet, 
you see, over and besides the rest, his own mouth did 
betray his treacherous dealing; and see how, trusting 
in the singularity of his own wit, overreached himself 
at unawares. But see what God would have done: 
for her Majesty commanded that of all men my lord 
Treasurer should have no knowledge of this Voyage; 
and to see that his own mouth hath declared that he 
hath given him a plot thereof. But, truly, my masters, 
and as I am a gentleman, there shall no more die. I 
will lay my hand on no more, although there be here 
that have deserved as much as he." Two of these he 



254 The Boy's Drake 

named, and they humbled themselves before him, one 
falling to his knees and praying forgiveness. Next 
the gossip that the voyage had been set forth by cer- 
tain patrons — Sir Christopher Hatton, or Sir William 
Wynter, or John Hawkins — was taken up, and Drake 
proceeded to give in detail the whole story of the in- 
ception and backing of the enterprise, as has been 
given in a previous chapter, sustaining his statement 
with letters and documents. Then the notable speech 
was brought to a close in these words. 

"And now, my masters, let us consider what we 
have done. We have now set together by the ears 
three mighty princes, as first her Majesty, [then] the 
Kings of Spain and Portugal. And if this Voyage 
should not have good success, we should not only be a 
scorning or a reproachful scoffing stroke unto our ene- 
mies, but also a great blot to our whole country for- 
ever. And what triumph would it be to Spain and 
Portugal! And again the like would never be at- 
tempted." 

Then with an appeal to their pride, to the true Eng- 
lishman's regard for the honour of his country, he 
restored all the officers to their posts as formally as 
he had deposed them. This done, he renewed his 
assurance to the company that he would satisfy every 
man in the voyage, else he would sell all he had even 
to his shirt. He had good reason so to promise, "for," 
said he, "I have somewhat of mine own in England, 
and besides that I have as much adventure in this Voy- 
age as three of the best whatsoever. And if it so be 



The Tragedy of Port St. Julien 255 

that I never come home, yet will her Majesty pay 
every man his v^^ages, whom indeed you and we all 
come to serve." This, Queen Elizabeth's direct as- 
sociation with the enterprise, he would impress upon 
them. "To say you come to serve me I will not give 
you thanks, for it is only her Majesty that you serve 
and this Voyage is only her setting forth." 

And *'so wishing all men [of the company] to be 
friends, he willed them to depart about their business." 
Thus the performance ended with Drake's purpose 
fully accomplished. He was thenceforth to be recog- 
nised as the sole supreme commander, and himself the 
servant of his queen. 

The Doughty tragedy was to be a closed chapter for 
the remainder of the Voyage. 



XX 
THROUGH MAGELLAN'S STRAITS 

THESE things thus ended and set in order, our 
generall discharged the Mary, viz., our Por- 
tuguese prize, because she was leake [leaky] and 
troublesome, defaced [broke up] her, and then left her 
ribs and keele vpon the iland where for two monethes 
together we had pitched our tents. And so, having 
wooded, watered, trimmed our ships, despatched all 
our other businesses, and brought our fleet into the 
smallest number, even 3 onely besides our pinnaces, 
that we might the easier keepe ourselves together, be 
the better furnished with necessaries, and be the 
stronger maned against whatsoever need should be, 
August 19 we departed out of this port, and being now 
in great hope of a happier issue to our enterprise, 
which Almighty God hitherto so blessed and pros- 
pered, we set our course for the Straights Southwest." 

So the authorised narrative brings the grim Port St. 
Julien chapter to an end and turns to the next and 
awe-inspiring stage of the momentous venture. 

When all was in readiness for the embarkation the 
company were assembled for a solemn service to in- 
voke the blessing of Heaven upon their further under- 

256 



Through Magellan's Straits 257 

taking. A general communion was celebrated, fol- 
lowed by prayers for the queen, the council, the 
church, and the "Common weal of England"; the 
singing of psalms, and thanksgiving for "God's great 
and singular graces" thus far bestowed upon them. 
And at the departure, they conferred upon the place 
of their long sojourn with Its tragic happenings both In 
Magellan's day and theirs, the gory name of "Island 
of Blood." 

Port Jullen was left in this order: Drake leading 
with the "Pelican" flying the English ensign; the 
"Elizabeth" as vice-admiral following, and the bark 
"Marigold" close by her. Now, according to the nar- 
rator, Fletcher, the "Marigold" was in command of 
Edward Bright, the chief witness against Doughty: 
but later on in his narrative Fletcher alludes to 
Thomas as yet her captain; more likely Bright had 
been promoted to the mastership. He had shipped 
originally as a ship's carpenter. 

That Drake was able to carry his men to the dreaded 
straits without a murmur was regarded by his con- 
temporaries as a conspicuous merit. So terrible were 
they counted in that day that the "very thoughts" of 
attempting them "were dreadful," wrote one contem- 
porary. So dangerous was the seeking of them and 
so troublesome the voyage, wrote another, that It 
"seemed a thing almost impossible" to be performed, 
and for thirty years before Drake's venture "no man 
made account thereof." The Spaniards for that 
period had given up this way to their Pacific posses- 



258 The Boy's Drake 

sions as impracticable, and, as we have seen, had car- 
ried all of their Pacific trade overland across the Isth- 
mus of Panama to and from the Caribbean ports. 
The last navigator before Drake to attempt the pas- 
sage from the Atlantic side was one Simon de Alca- 
zova, a Portuguese serving the King of Spain. He 
succeeded only in penetrating it some "twenty-five or 
thirty leagues," when he was forced to return; and 
afterward he was murdered by his men In mutiny. 
This was In the year 1535. Of the earlier attempts, 
following Magellan's feat, two only had been success- 
ful, and both ended tragically. The sea stories of the 
terrors of the mysterious passage had given European 
sailors a horror of It, and toward the last of the at- 
tempts, thirty years back, navigators who would at- 
tempt it were forced to refrain by threatened mutiny 
among their men. 

However, what misgivings Drake's sailors may have 
secretly had, they wisely kept them to themselves, and 
all went well as they sailed onward into the unknown. 

On August 20, the next day after leaving Port St. 
Jullen, the squadron made Cape Virgins at the mouth 
of the straits. 

And now they paused for another ceremony impres- 
sive as novel In the lonely sea. First, Drake ordered 
the three ships to "strike their top-sails upon the 
bunt," in homage to the Queen of England and in 
acknowledgment of her full right in whatever discov- 
eries he might make. Then before the assembled 
company he formally changed the name of the flag- 



Through Magellan's Straits 259 

ship from the "Pehcan" to the "Golden Hind," "in 
remembrance," the authorised narrative records, "of 
his honourable friend and favourer Sir Christopher 
Hatton," whose crest bore that design. Then the 
chaplain delivered a sermon "teaching true obedi- 
ence." Then the ceremony closed, like that at the 
departure from Port St. Julien, with prayers, "and 
giving of thankes, for her maiesty and most honour- 
able counsell, with the whole body of the common 
weale and Church of God." The motive of the sig- 
nificant change in the flag-ship's name was more than 
merely to compliment one of Drake's patrons. It was 
plainly a shrewd stroke calculated, as Corbett notes, 
to allay the resentment which Hatton might naturally 
feel at the execution of Doughty, his principal man in 
the expedition; and, by thus attaching conspicuously 
to his name whatever glory the enterprise should at- 
tain, to secure his support at court where Hatton was 
a rising favourite when Drake left England. 

Now the prows were turned directly into the strange 
frith, and all, gentlemen and sailors, were alert. What 
were they to encounter ^ What wondrous sights to 
see .? What perils to meet .? As the ships carefully 
advanced great fires arose on the north side of the 
broad mouth kindled by natives. What did these 
signify .? Maybe they were warning signals to other 
natives. But it was never known. 

Very soon the utmost skill of the ships' masters was 
brought into requisition. A narrow pass was entered 
"carrying with it much winde, often turnings and 



26o The Boy's Drake 

many dangers." From this pass they fell into what 
seemed a "large and maine sea." Again, they were 
threading among "broken Hands'* with "large pas- 
sages between." 

During the first night they had in sight an island 
which recalled the Fogo of the Cape Verdes, like it 
burning "alofte in the aire in a wonderful sort with- 
out interruption." Some of the broken islands were 
found inhabited by an "infinite number" of fowl, Hke 
great ducks or geese, "which the Welch named Pen- 
guin." They were the flightless sea-bird so named — 
a corruption of the English term pin-wing — by earlier 
English navigators: a party of gentlemen navigators in 
the year 1536 coming upon a northern species on the 
"Island of Penguin" in Newfoundland seas. Leaving 
these islands astern they sailed on a winding course, 
between snow-capped mountains on either side rising 
in magnificent terraces. The tiers "reaching them- 
selves above their fellowes so high that between them 
did appear three regions of clouds," filled the behold- 
ers with wonder. 

On islands "neere adjoyning the roots" of the moun- 
tains "rearing their heads into the cold and frozen 
regions," were seen masses of trees weighted with snow 
and frozen rain, yet ever green. So crushed down were 
their branches, and so close together, that they formed 
"sweet arbors," beneath which, the ground being de- 
fended from cold, various herbs were found flourishing, 
"as it were, as in the summer of England." Many of 
these "simples" as thyme, marjoram, "Alexander's 



Through Magellan's Straits 261 

scurvy-grass," the men gathered. Natives were met 
here, a "comely and harmless people, but naked." 
Their bodies v^ere painted with "formes and divers col- 
lours." The men, for the most part, had red circles 
painted about their eyes and red strokes on their fore- 
heads. The women were ornamented with bracelets 
and necklaces made of white shells. 

On the fourth day, the twenty-fourth of August, the 
voyagers fell in with "three Hands, being trianglewise 
one from another." These lie close to the main-land 
at a turning of the passage to the south-west. On the 
largest Drake, accompanied by his gentlemen and the 
principal mariners, made a formal landing, and took 
possession of the three in Queen Elizabeth's name. 
The largest, in her honour, he named EHzabeth Island, 
the other two, respectively, Bartholomew's, because 
the day was St. Bartholomew's Day, and St. George's, 
in honour of England. On both the smaller islands 
more penguins were found, and in greater abundance 
than before. No less than three thousand, if we are 
to believe the narrators (and on this figure they all 
agree) were killed within the single day of their stay 
here. This game proved good eating, the flesh being 
"not far unHke a fat goose in England"; and the fleet 
were well victualled with it salted down. 

The onward course continued through what after- 
ward came to be called the Broad Reach. From the 
three islands to the end, the way was found to be very 
crooked, with "many turnings and, as it were, shut- 
tings up as if there was no passage at all." More buf- 



262 The Boy's Drake 

feting by repeatedly changing winds, sweeping down 
without warning upon the ships in icy squalls, was 
suffered. More than once they were in imminent dan- 
ger of wreck. The mountains on either side continued 
impressive. Rising "with such tops and spires into 
the aire, and of so rare a height," the chroniclers 
thought that surely they might be "accounted amongst 
the wonders of the world." And yet, as before, the 
"lowe and plaine groundes" were seen to be "very 
fruitfull, the grasse greene and naturall, the herbes, 
that are of very strange sorts, good and many, the 
trees, for the most part of them, alwaies greene, the 
ayre of the temperature of our countrye, the water 
most pleasant": indeed a place, as the good chaplain 
observed, "that lacketh nothing but a people to vse 
the same to the Creators glory and the encreasing of 
the Church." 

At length, nearing the Pacific, the fleet came upon 
"such a shutting up" of the straits "to the North- 
wards," and such "large and open fretes [Latin, fre- 
tum, a strait] toward the South," that Drake was 
doubtful which was the proper turn to take. There- 
fore, he brought the ships to anchor under an island, 
and taking a ship's boat with several of the gentlemen- 
at-arms, he rowed forward to reconnoitre for the true 
passage. When this was found, and the party had 
returned to the fleet, they met riding under the same 
island a canoe filled with a crew of natives. The 
boat interested the Englishmen quite as much as its 
occupants, and its beauty roused their admiration. It 



Through Magellan's Straits 263 

was made of the bark of trees, handsomely moulded, 
and of "comely proportions," with a semicircular high 
prow and stern. The seams were stitched with thongs 
made of seal-skins. It had no other calking, yet so 
close was the stitching that it was as dry as an ordi- 
narily calked craft. So excellent was the workman- 
ship throughout that it seemed to the Englishmen 
"never to have beene done without the cunning and 
expert judgment of art": and that, too, not for the use 
of a rude and barbarous people, but as a pleasure boat 
for some "great and noble personage, yea, of some 
Prince." 

These natives were also found amiable. But they 
were in marked contrast with the others previously met 
in the passage, and with the Patagonians on the At- 
lantic side, for they were a small people. The chroni- 
clers described them as of "a mean stature but well 
set and compact" in form. Like the others they had 
great pleasure in painting their faces. On the island 
one of their houses was visited, a slender abode made 
of poles covered with skins of beasts. Inside were 
"fire, water, and such meate as commonly they can 
come by, as seales, mussels, and such like." The ves- 
sels in which they kept water, and their drinking cups, 
were made, like the canoe, of the bark of various trees, 
and fashioned as cleverly. Their tools with which all 
this work was done were knives made of great mussel 
shells which are found of extraordinary size in the 
straits. These knives were fashioned by breaking off 
the thin brittle edge of the shell and grinding a new 



264 , The Boy's Drake 

edge by rubbing upon stones. Thus the blade was so 
tempered and given so keen an edge that it could cut 
the hardest wood and bones of a "marvellous hard- 
ness." From these tough bones were cut fishgigs to 
kill fish, an occupation in which these natives were 
most dexterous. 

On the sixth of September, seventeen days after the 
ships had entered the wondrous straits, they had left 
astern *'all these troublesome Hands," and had be- 
fore them the longed-for goal. They had come to 
Cape Pillar, at that time the Cape "Deseado," or 
"Desired," of Magellan's naming, at the entrance of 
the Pacific. Here it was Drake's intention to mar- 
shal the company ashore, and after a sermon by the 
chaplain, to set up a monument to Queen Elizabeth, 
for a "perpetuall remembrance" of his coming and 
occupation of the point. He had the plate duly en- 
graved and in readiness to place without delay. But 
this ceremony had to be abandoned. It was impos- 
sible for the fleet to come to anchor and the boisterous 
wind would not suffer them to make any stay. 

So they sailed on and directly out. And Drake's 
prayer for life and leave once to sail this sea with an 
English ship was at last fulfilled. 



XXI 
ON THE PACIFIC 

DRAKE had little time for formal rejoicings over 
so successfully attaining the sea of his desire. 
He must make all haste again "toward the 
Hne" for the refreshment of his men. All had become 
wearied with the "nipping cold" which they had en- 
countered "vnder so cruell and frowning a winter," 
and some were sore ill from exposure. He would, 
moreover, push on the quicker to begin the business 
of his voyage — the seeking of Spanish prizes, and the 
sacking, if might be, of Spanish Pacific ports. It was 
his original plan as he outlined it in England, to work 
up the coast and ultimately come upon and surprise 
Panama from the Pacific side. He had little if any 
fear of being checkmated in this game, for he felt sure 
that his daring scheme of making the Pacific by way 
of the straits could not be discovered in season by the 
enemy. 

So, issuing orders that in case of separation of the 
fleet the rendezvous should be "in 30 deg. or there- 
abouts " on the coast of Peru, he steered north-west, in 
accordance with the markings on the common Spanish 

26s 



266 The Boy's Drake 

maps which erroneously gave the trend of the coast in 
that direction instead of northward. This led early to 
trouble: to awful perils in an unprecedented storm 
which lasted, with slight intermissions, for fifty-two 
days, beat the fleet about, and drove them far south- 
ward; and finally separated them, leaving the "Golden 
Hind" alone to pursue the remainder of the voyage. 
Incidentally Drake by accident made a discovery of 
great importance which contributed much to his re- 
nown. 

All went well till the second day on the mistaken 
course. They had sailed north-west about seventy 
leagues when the storm struck them — a fierce gale 
from the north-east. Turned roundabout, for more 
than a fortnight they could carry no sail, while they 
were driven to the west-south-west, midst snow, sleet, 
and rains, and in darkness. At length, by the close of 
the month, September, they had been carried as was 
calculated so far south as the fifty-seventh south lati- 
tude, and about two hundred leagues longitude to the 
west of the straits. Meanwhile, to add to their terrors, 
there had been a partial eclipse of the moon. This oc- 
curred in a lull of the storm on the evening of Septem- 
ber 15, and lasted half an hour. No improvement in 
the weather followed as they hoped, the gale rather in- 
creased in fury. On the twenty-fourth the wind 
shifted so that they could turn about and work back 
again to the north-east under sail. In this course they 
continued about a week when they made the first land 
they had seen since the storm first fell upon them. 



On the Pacific 267 



But the wind blew so strong that they could not an- 
chor. During the following night the "Marigold," 
obliged to bear away before the gale, parted company 
with the others and was never more seen. On her, 
with Captain Thomas and Master Bright, were twen- 
ty-eight souls. According to the authorised narrative, 
her fate was not known by the others, and Drake 
hoped and expected that she would ultimately be re- 
covered at the appointed rendezvous. But the Chap- 
lain Fletcher in his notes avers that she was "swal- 
lowed up with the horrible and unmercifull waves, or 
rather mountaines of the sea," and that he and Brewer, 
the trumpeter, heard "their fearefull cryes when the 
hand of God came upon them." Her disappearance 
chanced in the second watch of the night when the 
chaplain and the trumpeter were on the watch. 

The "Golden Hind" and the "Elizabeth" battling 
the storm managed to keep the course for another 
week. Then on the seventh of October they were up 
again to the opening of the straits, past it, and come to 
a harbour among some islands a little north of Cape 
Pillar. This haven they entered toward night "with 
a sorrie saile," by "a most narrow passage of rocks" 
as "through the eye of a nedell." Here in shelter the 
worn and wearied men hoped to enjoy a little ease till 
this "intollerable tempest" had spent itself. But only 
a few hours after anchoring they were caught in a furi- 
ous squall and thrown into confusion. The "Golden 
Hind's" cables broke and her anchors "came home" 
[dragged], while the "Elizabeth" was forced to slip 



268 The Boy's Drake 

hers. Both ships succeeded in reaching the open sea, 
but they were almost immediately separated. And 
they were never to meet again. 

So it was that the "Golden Hind" was left alone. 
What became of the "Elizabeth" ? She did not foun- 
der, nor did she suffer hurt. On the contrary, she 
prosperously scudded home to England and there re- 
ported the probable loss of Drake. We have the story 
in the narrative of Edward Cliffe who was on board 
her: 

"The seventh of October falling into a dangerous 
bay full of rocks . . . there we lost company of M. 
Drake the same night. The next day, very hardly 
escaping the danger of the rocks, we put into the 
Streights againe, where we ankered in an open bay for 
the space of two dayes, and made great fiers on the 
shore to the end if M, Drake should come into the 
Streights hee might finde us. After, we went into a 
sound where we stayed for the space of three weekes; 
and named it The Port of Health, for the most part of 
our men being very sicke with long watching, wet, 
cold, and euil diet, did here, God be thanked, wonder- 
fully recouer their health in short space. Here we had 
very great muscles, some being 20 inches long, very 
pleasant meate, and many of them full of seed-pearles. 
We came out of this harbour the first of Nouember 
giuing ouer our voiage by M. Winters compulsion, full 
sore against the mariners' minds, who [Wynter] al- 
leged he stood in dispaire as well to haue winds to 
serue his turne for Peru [for the rendezvous] as also 



On the Pacific 269 



of M. Drakes safety. So we came back againe 
through the Streights." Wynter was no coward. He 
was simply restive under Drake's autocratic leader- 
ship, and welcomed this opportunity, honourably as 
he doubtless thought, to break away. In his deposi- 
tion before the admiralty court after his return to 
England, he complained of Drake's arbitrary acts. 
The taking off of the Portuguese prize — the "Mary" 
at Cape Verde Islands for example. This was con- 
trary to Wynter's "good wish," but he could not pro- 
test for he had no authority there "but such as pleased 
the said Drake to give and take away" at his own will 
and pleasure. Had he "contraried" Drake he would 
have punished him with death, he declared, and in- 
stanced the case of Doughty. Therefore, being "where 
no justice would be heard" he was enforced to "con- 
tent'* himself "with silence." Probably after his fire 
signals in the straits had failed to discover the "Golden 
Hind" he honestly believed she was lost, or that ulti- 
mately Drake would also abandon the voyage and at- 
tempt to return home. 

Now the "Golden Hind" alone was again driven 
back southward by the continuing storm. As she 
drifted or was beaten along Drake kept a constant 
lookout for both of his lost consorts. With the disap- 
pearance of the "Elizabeth" he named the bay where 
they had found such brief shelter together, the "Bay 
of Severing of Friends.'^ The tempest raged till the 
"Golden Hind" had been carried as low down as the 
fifty-fifth parallel. Here the gale somewhat abated. 



270 The Boy's Drake 

and Drake was enabled to run in among a group of 
islands and anchor. These islands, Corbett conject- 
ures, are in Darwin's Sound, a few leagues to the 
south of the former anchorage of the fleet in this 
quarter. And the point where Drake now anchored 
Corbett surmises to have been either somewhere off 
Stewartland, or about the western approaches to the 
Beagle Channel. 

Here two restful days were passed in the lull of the 
storm. All the sick, of whom there were not a few, 
and the well received much comfort from a diet of 
wholesome herbs found here, with good fresh water. 
The natives were seen "travelling for their living from 
one island to another in their canowes, both men and 
women, and young infants wrapt in skins, and hange- 
ing at their mothers backs." These proved to be 
friendly folk and Drake trafficked with them, as usual 
giving trinkets in exchange for what they had: in this 
case chains of shells and other trifles. Still the sea 
continued troubled and the blustering winds again 
became threatening. Then the storm revived and 
with a furious energy. The sea was "rowled vp from 
the depths euen from the roots of the rockes as if it had 
been a scroll of parchment." The "Golden Hind's" 
anchors gave over their holdfast, and leaving behind 
the greater part of the cable with one anchor, she was 
committed almost helpless to the rolling sea which 
tossed her "like a ball in a racket." 

Again Drake's skilful seamanship saved her from 
wreck. At length, she fell in with the "vttermost part 



On the Pacific 271 



of land towards the South Pole." And now the tem- 
pest instantly died away, and the unparalleled storm, 
which for violence and continuance "full 52 dayes" 
had exceeded all records "since Noahs flood," was 
over. Its sudden cessation as soon as the "Golden 
Hind" had reached this "uttermost part" Drake de- 
voutly interpreted "as though God had sent them of 
purpose to the end which ensued." 

This end was Drake's great discovery. He identi- 
fied these islands as part of the archipelago through 
which he had passed in the straits. Thus he saw that 
Magellan had not discovered as supposed the only 
way between the two oceans. The cosmographers of 
that time had represented the straits to be a passage 
between America and a vast antarctic continent stretch- 
ing east and west about the world, which they called 
"Terra Australis Incognita." Drake saw no such 
continent here. Outside the uttermost cape or head- 
land of "all those islands" there was "no maine or 
island" to the southward, but instead the open sea 
with the meeting of the Atlantic and the Pacific "in a 
most large and free scope." This uttermost cape or 
headland was Cape Horn, afterward so named, in 
honour of a Dutch sailor. 

It was a momentous discovery none the less to our 
hero's credit because accidental. How he came to it 
he described some years after to Sir Richard Haw- 
kins, the worthy son of Sir John, and himself a great 
navigator, who repeated the description in his Obser- 
vations upon a voyage of his own into the South Sea 



272 The Boy's Drake 

in 1593. 'T remember," wrote Sir Richard, "that Sir 
Francis Drake told me . . . that standing about when 
the winde changed he was not well able to double 
the southermost iland, and so anchored under the lee 
of it; and going a-shore, carried a compasse with him, 
and seeking out the southermost part of the iland, 
caste himself downe upon the uttermost poynt, grovel- 
ling, and so reached out his bodie over it. Presently 
he imbarked, and then recounted unto his people that 
he had beene upon the southermost knowne land in 
the world, and more further to the southwards upon 
it then [than] any of them, yea, or any man as yet 
knowne." 

Fletcher also was on this island, and he set up a 
stone that he found there upon the flat side of which 
he cut Queen Elizabeth's name, the "year of Christ 
and the day of the month"; while Drake named the 
group " Elizabethides" in honour of his mistress. 

That Drake made this discovery is not admitted by 
some of the early and later historians, although the 
evidence is unmistakable; and it is popularly credited 
to the Dutch navigator Schouten, in the service of the 
East India Company, who was the first to double 
Cape Horn, in 1616. Drake did not at once report 
the discovery upon his return from this voyage, but 
kept the matter secret, except among his closest con- 
fidants, for some time, that the Spaniards should not 
learn of it and its strategical importance. Later Hak- 
luyt accepted it, giving, on Drake's authority, in his 
"New Map" in the second edition of his Principal 



On the Pacific 273 



Navigations, an open sea below South America in 
place of the Terra Australis Incognita set down by the 
earlier cosmographers. 

The fine weather, that came with his great discovery, 
Drake took as a further sign from heaven that the Di- 
vine Hand had guided him. Says the authorised nar- 
rative, "Now our troubles did make an end . . . and 
all our calamities, onely the absence of our friends 
excepted, were removed, as if God, all this while, by 
his secret providence had led vs to make this discou- 
ery, which being made, according to his will, he stayed 
his hand, as pleased his maiestie therein, and refreshed 
vs as his seruants." 

Now Drake was anxious to return north and reach 
the appointed rendezvous on the Peruvian coast as 
speedily as possible in the hope of there recovering 
the lost consorts. So after two days spent among the 
"Elizabethides," on the thirtieth of October sails were 
set and the "Golden Hind" was again gallantly ply- 
ing north-westward. 



XXII 
"MAKING" THE VOYAGE 

IN their course up from the "Elizabethides" the 
voyagers kept "close aboord the shore as well as 
of the broken land," and on the second day they 
chanced upon two islands "lying like stragglers from 
the broken land." These are supposed to have been 
the Ildefonso group, off Darwin Sound. They looked 
inviting, and anchoring off them, Drake made a landing 
with the ship's boat. They were found to be "store- 
houses of most liberall provision of victuals" — birds* 
eggs in great profusion, sujfficient to stock the whole 
fleet had they been here together. As many as the 
"Golden Hind" could conveniently stow away were 
taken aboard, and the ship sailed on. 

Hence, north-north-west as the Spanish charts indi- 
cated the Chilian coast to trend, she forged ahead for 
twelve days more, till the height of forty-four degrees 
was reached. Meanwhile another interesting island of 
considerable size had come into view; but nothing of 
the looked-for Chilian coast. Drake's growing sus- 
picion that the Spanish charts were misleading had 
become a conviction, and he now boldly changed the 

274 



''Making" the Voyage 275 

course, steering north-east. This move in due time 
brought its reward. After two days' saihng in this 
direction he made the desired coast, at the mouth of 
the Valdivia River which enters the sea at the Puerto 
de Corral, ChiH. No fit harbour being seen here he 
coasted onward at a safe distance offshore till he had 
come to the height of thirty-seven degrees south or 
thereabouts. Still finding "no convenient place of 
abode," or sign of the lost consorts, at this point he 
determined to leave the main-land, lest he should be 
discovered, and run for that considerable island which 
had continued in view. 

It was the Chilian island of "Mucho." Mocha, as 
the gazetteers set down in these modern days, is re- 
sorted to by whalers, the peaceful successors in these 
tranquil South Seas of our buccaneers of three cen- 
turies back. The "Golden Hind" dropped anchor in 
its pleasant harbour on the twenty-fifth of November, 
and Drake with a picked crew rowed ashore. It was 
seen to be a fruitful place, "well stored with sundry 
good things." Upon landing Drake was received by a 
group of the Indian inhabitants with every demonstra- 
tion of good-will. These inhabitants were not natives 
of the island, but refugees from the main-land. They 
had been driven "by the cruell and most extreame 
dealings of the Spaniards" to fly from their old homes 
and fortify themselves here against their enemies. 
Several of the group, "with great courtesie," offered 
Drake fruits, maize, poultry; others brought down 
"two very fat sheepe" as a special present for him. 



276 The Boy's Drake 



In return, according to his custom, he gave them vari- 
ous trinkets. By signs he made them understand that 
his coming w^as for no other purpose than to traffic 
with them for the products of their island, and to ob- 
tain supply of fresh water. In the same language they 
joyously expressed their happiness to accommodate 
him; and the next morning was appointed for the 
business. At this, with more gestures of friendliness 
on both sides, he departed for the ship with his little 
cargo of fruits, hens, and the good fat sheep, to return 
in the morning as arranged. 

That night, says the chaplain Fletcher In his notes, 
gratefully though slipping a bit in grammar, "our mut- 
ton and hens was to us so sweet that we longed for day 
that we might have more such bargains at their hands, 
yea every man desired to be a South Sea merchant." 
They were to receive instead a stunning shock. 

Bright and early next morning Drake was off again, 
now with a fine crew of nine men. They carried a 
lot of trinkets for exchange for the good things ex- 
pected, and "barrlcoes," or barrels, to take off the 
fresh water. Fearing no harm, the men carried 
neither "bowe nor other shot": only their swords and 
targets, which they were accustomed always to carry 
on all shore ventures. Beckoned by the natives, they 
came to a landing In a narrow creek bordered on both 
sides with reeds growing high and thick. Two sailors, 
Tom Flood and Tom Brewer, were first put ashore 
with the water barrels. They started off cheerily for 
the watering-place near by which the Indians had in- 



*' Making" the Voyage 277 

dicated. When they had passed about half the way, 
to the amazement of their comrades in the boat they 
were set upon by their guides and carried off. At the 
same moment out from behind rocks screened by the 
reeds bordering the creek sprang some five hundred 
Indians and stormed the boat-load with a hot shower 
of arrows and darts. Simultaneously other Indians be- 
gan hauling the boat inshore by the painter. Others 
dashed at the oars. So unexpected and sudden was 
the attack that the boat-load were helpless. Every 
man of them was hit by arrows or darts several times. 
One suffered a score of wounds. He was the negro 
Diego, Drake's devoted servant. Another — John 
Brewer, the trumpeter — had seventeen. Several were 
dangerously hurt. Among the latter was Drake him- 
self. He was cut by an arrow in the face under the 
right eye, and struck also in the head and an arm. 
At such close range was the assault and so crowded 
the boat that the targets were of slight protection, 
while the swords were useless. Had not one of the 
sailors quickly cut the painter and released the boat 
all must have perished. 

With only two oars left, the creek full of rocks, and 
the surf running high, they made their perilous way 
back to the ship and the wounded were hastened 
aboard. Immediately another boat was sent back 
with a fresh crew, armed to the teeth, to rescue the 
two captured sailors. But the Indians were now 
gathered in such large numbers on the shore that it 
could not be accomplished, and the poor fellows had 



278 The Boy's Drake 

to be left to their fate. When this crew returned to 
the ship they begged that the wrong might be revenged 
by a broadside into the crowd ashore; but Drake 
would not permit it. He was "more desirous to pre- 
serve one of his owne men alive then [than] to destroy 
one hundred of his enemies." That these Indians had 
taken Drake and his party for Spaniards was doubt- 
less the explanation of their act. For, says the narra- 
tive, "though command was given to the contrary, 
some of our men in demanding water vsed the Spanish 
word Jgua" in their hearing. 

With so large a number of painfully wounded men, 
things were in a bad way for a little while on the 
"Golden Hind." The chief surgeon was dead; his 
assistant was on the absent "Elizabeth"; and there 
was only left the surgeon's boy, "whose good will was 
more then [than] skill hee had." But fortunately — ■ 
and here again we have a remarkable example of our 
hero's resourcefulness — Drake himself, with his picked- 
up knowledge of surgery and medicine, was able to 
minister to his own and the others' hurts. Thanks to 
his skill, coupled with the fresh food they had ob- 
tained and the healing sea air, all in good time were 
recovered save two — the ship's gunner, a Dane called 
"Great Niel," and the faithful Diego, whose loss our 
captain sincerely deplored. The weapons of these 
Mucho Indians, the narrator remarks in passing, which 
did such cruel harm, were arrows made of reeds 
headed with stone "very brittle and indented," and 
darts of great length tipped with iron or bone. 



"Making" the Voyage 279 

In the afternoon of this fateful day, the inhospit- 
able island was left and search made for a happier 
port which might afford the wounded some rest. 
Bending the ship's course, as the wind would favour 
her, again toward the main, four days later, the thir- 
tieth of November, the voyagers fell in with a bay 
which seemed to answer their purpose. This was 
Philip's Bay, as they called it, a little way above Val- 
paraiso. At its mouth the "Golden Hind" dropped 
anchor, and a boat was manned to discover whether it 
fulfilled its promise. The boatmen returned with an 
unsatisfactory report. They could not find that its 
shores afforded either fresh victuals or fresh water. 
They had seen huge herds of "buffes" (buffaloes) 
roaming about, but no sign of any inhabitants. One 
native, however, placidly fishing in the bay, they had 
come upon as they were returning. And him, with his 
canoe, they brought back with them. 

He was a fine figure as the narrator pictures him. 
"A comely personage and of good stature," clad in a 
single "white garment reaching scarcely to his knees," 
arms and legs bare, long hair falling from a strong 
head. Drake received him affably on the "Golden 
Hind's" deck. It was a lucky meeting as events 
shortly proved. By signs and gestures he indicated 
his readiness to be of any service to the stranger cap- 
tain. Drake gave his customary reply: he would 
trade with the people for his needs: fresh victuals and 
water. This the good fellow promised immediately to 
bring about. So, after he had been handsomely en- 



28o The Boy's Drake 

tertained and pleased with gifts, he was returned to 
the ship's boat to be landed "where he would." Along 
with him went his canoe, a dainty bit of craft made of 
reed straw. 

Upon landing he willed the crew to stay by while he 
sought his friends. Two or three of his kind at once 
made their appearance seemingly from a hiding. To 
these he was seen to impart his news: displaying his 
presents, and evidently expressing the strangers' de- 
sire for trade. All this was apparently quite to their 
satisfaction. Then he and the others disappeared. 
The crew remained awaiting developments for an hour 
and more, ever on guard. At length their man returned 
accompanied by his "captain," or chief, and others 
loaded down with good things, hens, eggs, a fat hog, 
and "such like." To allay any suspicion of their good 
intent the savages packed these offerings into one of 
their own canoes and paddled it to the ship's boat 
then lying "a reasonable distance" off the shore. And 
with the goods went the chief. "He would needs 
commit himself to the credit of our men, though 
strangers, and come with them to our Generall with- 
out any of his own acquaintance or countriemen with 
him." This was a remarkable show of confidence to 
be sure, but, you see, he and his people evidently 
thought the strangers to be Spanish, and with the 
Spaniards they were friendly. 

The chief was welcomed on the "Golden Hind" 
with greater courtesy, if possible, than his forerunner 
had received. He informed Drake by signs that all 



"Making" the Voyage 281 

the ship's necessities could not be fully supplied at 
this place. There was, however, a larger place not 
far back to the southward where by traffic he might 
have at pleasure everything he stood in need of, and 
the accommodating chief would pilot him to that har- 
bour if he wished. This offer Drake accepted, the 
more gladly, as the narrative states, "because it was 
neere about the place appointed for the rendezvoues 
of our fleete." But there was a more inspiriting rea- 
son. As Pretty's narration notes, the chief dropped 
the observation that there was lately arrived in that 
harbour "a great ship laden from the kingdom of 
Peru." 

Now the "making of the Voyage," the raid upon 
Spanish ships and Spanish Pacific ports for plunder, 
was about to begin. 

No time was lost in getting away under the Indian's 
pilotage. Several of the company had planned a 
buffalo hunt ashore, but this had to be given up. A 
day's sailing back southward brought them to the de- 
sired port. This was Valparaiso, serving as the port 
of Santiago. It was reached on the fifth of December, 
a year from the time of Drake's start out from Eng- 
land, and not a word of his break into the Pacific had 
yet come to any South Sea Spanish settlement. All of 
them were believed to be absolutely secure from inva- 
sion by any European enemy, corsair or pirate. So 
all were off guard. Drake was to fall upon them "like 
a visitation from Heaven." 

Valparaiso at this time, according to Pretty, was a 



282 The Boy's Drake 

town of ''not above nine households," indifferently 
protected. In the harbour rode the treasure-ship of 
which the Indian had told, with only eight Spaniards 
and three negroes aboard her. She was a famous ves- 
sel. She was called, as the narrative puts it, the 
*' Captaine of Mori all, or the Grand Captaine of the 
South, Admirall of the Islands of Salomon." Corbett 
informs us that she was the identical ship which the 
famous Spanish navigator Sarmiento de Gamboa had 
commanded in the expedition of Mendana de Neyra 
eleven years before (1567) to discover the fabled "Isles 
of Ophir," now called the Solomon Islands, and per- 
haps Australia. The few of her crew aboard suppos- 
ing the incoming "Golden Hind" to be a Spanish 
ship, welcomed her with the beating of drums, and, as 
was afterward learned, made ready a "bottiji" (a 
Spanish pot) of Chilian wine to drink to the supposed 
friends. But as soon as she had come up with the 
Spaniard the intrepid and experienced Tom Moone, 
spoiling for adventure, was over her side with a board- 
ing party. 

Now the story is Pretty's, the authorised narrative 
discreetly suppressing these details. Moone "began 
to lay about him " vigorously, with the cry as he struck 
one of the crew, "Abaxo Perro! that is in English, Goe 
downe dogge!" to surrender by getting below. "One 
of these Spaniards seeing persons of that quality in 
those seas" — Pretty was a bit of a braggadocio — 
"crossed and blessed himselfe: but to be short, wee 
stowed them under hatches, all save one Spaniard, 



"Making" the Voyage 283 

who suddenly and desperately leapt over boord into 
the sea and swamme ashore to the town of S. I ago to 
give them warning of our arrival." 

The prize secured, Drake manned his ship's boat, 
and also that of the prize, and entered the town. It 
was found deserted, all the inhabitants having fled. 
His men gayly helped themselves to what was readiest 
at hand. Wines of Chili were taken from the ware- 
houses. A chapel was rifled of "a silver chalice, two 
cruets, and one altar cloth," Catholic spoil which 
Drake turned over to his Protestant chaplain. No 
harm to warehouse or dwelling was permitted. Nor 
was any injury suff'ered by the prisoners on the prize. 
The sack of the town over, Drake returned to her and 
set all of the prisoners ashore, save only her pilot, a 
Greek, named John Griego, whom he retained to pilot 
him to Lima. Then the "Golden Hind," well sup- 
plied with the takings of wines, bread, bacon, and 
other foods for a long season, put to sea again with the 
prize in tow. When they were well out Drake had her 
brought alongside his ship and ransacked her. Her 
product was surprising. Besides a good cargo of 
Chilian wine she was carrying "25000 pezoes of very 
find gold of Baldivia [Valdivia], amounting in value 
to 37000 ducats of Spanish money and above," or 
eighty thousand pounds of English money; some 
pearls; and a "great crosse of gold beset with emer- 
aulds, on which was nailed a god of the same metall." 

Some time was spent in the pleasant toil of "easing 
this ship of so heavy a burthen," as the narrative jo- 



284 The Boy's Drake 

cundly records, by transferring her weakh to the 
"Golden Hind." This done, captor and captured 
were a-sail again, returning toward "the Hne." Along 
the way the Indian pilot, who had remained through 
the Valparaiso affair, was landed "in the place where 
he desired," bountifully rewarded by Drake for his 
profitable service "with many good things," which 
pleased him mightily. What was his fate on the dis- 
covery that he had led the English to the spoiling of 
Spaniards can only be conjectured. 

Drake was now on the lookout especially for a con- 
venient and safe harbour in which he might clean the 
"Golden Hind," which had again become foul, and 
also set up his other pinnace stowed in the hold in 
pieces: the first one had been lost sight of in the storm 
off Tierra del Fuego with eight men. With this pin- 
nace he could search every likely inlet or creek he 
might come upon, which his ship could not safely pen- 
etrate, in the hope of finding the lost consorts. These 
he was yet confident he would ultimately meet. He 
would also employ the smaller boat in encountering 
the "malice or treachery of the Spaniards," if by 
chance the voyagers should meet with any of them, 
rather than hazard the ship to their "cruell courtesie." 

Such a place was apparently found at the mouth of 
the Coquimbo River, not far south of a Spanish town 
which the narrator calls "Cyppo." Drake sent his 
ship's boat to the shore with a crew of fourteen men 
to reconnoitre. They had evidently been espied from 
the town, for no sooner had they landed than a party 



"Making" the Voyage 285 

of Spaniards and Indians hove in sight approaching 
the water-side. They were a pretty large party too: 
three hundred horsemen and two hundred footmen, 
according to Pretty; but as the authorised narrative 
states it, "300 men at least, whereof 100 were Span- 
iards every one well mounted upon his horse, the rest 
. . . Indians running as dogs at their heeles, all 
naked/* Luckily for the fourteen, before this for- 
midable force could reach them, they were all able 
to escape except one, by scurrying from the main to a 
rock offshore and then to their boat which hurried 
them back to the ship. The one who failed to get 
away was an over-bold sailor, Richard Mining, who 
refused to run and dared the oncomers. They killed 
him, and, after his dead body was dragged from the 
rock to the main by the Indians, the Spaniards cut off 
his head and his right hand, and plucked out his heart, 
leaving the remains to the Indians to be shot full of 
arrows — all this in the sight of his horrified compan- 
ions. After the assailants had withdrawn some of the 
sailors ventured again ashore and gave the mangled 
body decent burial. Meanwhile the Spaniards reap- 
peared now bearing a flag of truce. But Drake would 
not trust them, and as soon as the burial party had 
re-embarked sails were set and the search renewed, 
northward. 

The next day another and more inviting harbour 
was come upon This was Salado Bay some leagues 
north of "Cyppo." Upon examination it proved to be 
quite suitable. Accordingly anchors were cast and 



286 The Boy's Drake 

preparations made for a stay till the work as planned 
was done. Speedily all hands were at their appointed 
tasks. The "Golden Hind" was thoroughly trimmed, 
and her heavy guns were brought out of her hold and 
mounted, while the pinnace was put together on the 
deck of the prize. Fully a month's time was spent in 
this work and in exploring the region about. When 
the pinnace was full set up Drake took her with some 
"chosen men" and sailed southward, hoping to come 
upon the missing consorts in some inlet or secluded 
place along shore. But after several days' sailing, 
the wind being contrary, he was forced to return. He 
contented himself with the thought that, failing to 
make the rendezvous, the consorts had gone on toward 
Panama. Therefore he would push on northward 
without further delay, and, while continuing at "mak- 
ing" his voyage, would look into every inlet and bay 
for them. During the stay in this haven, the gentle- 
men of the company had fine sport in fishing. The 
narrator would have it believed that with "4 or 5 
hookes or lines, in 2 or 3 houres" they "would take 
sometimes 400" fish, "sometimes more at one time." 

Salado Bay was left astern on the nineteenth of Jan- 
uary. The course was now close along shore. Near 
a place which the narrator calls "Tarapaca," on the 
Pisagua River, the first landing was made by a ship's 
boat party for fresh water. Ashore they lighted upon 
a Spaniard lying comfortably sound asleep, and at his 
side lay thirteen bars of silver, "weighing in all about 
4000 Spanish duccatts." He was on his way from the 



"Making" the Voyage 287 

renowned Potosi mines. They would not disturb him, 
but would relieve him of his burden. He did awake, 
but not till they had the silver, which they carried back 
to the ship instead of the water. A little farther on 
another landing was made, as before for water. Here 
more plunder was fallen upon. This time it was in 
the keeping of a Spaniard wide awake, with an Indian 
boy, driving a string of eight llamas, or Peruvian 
sheep, "as big as asses," each loaded with two leather 
bags containing a hundred pounds of fine silver. "We 
could not indure to see a gentleman Spaniard turned 
carrier so," says the narrator in his facetious way, "and 
therefore without intreaty we offered our seruices and 
become drouers, onely his directions were not so per- 
fect that we could keepe the way which hee intended, 
for almost as soone as hee was parted from us we with 
our new kind of carriges were come vnto our boates." 
The bags thus taken yielded in all some eight hundred- 
weight of silver. 

Next some Indian towns were passed where all the 
natives were found friendly. From one groups came 
out in queer craft with quantities of fish for traffic and 
took the trifles in exchange with glee. Their craft 
were "certaine hawses made of seale skins, of which 
two being ioyned [joined] together of iust [just, or 
equal] length and side by side resemble in fashion or 
forme a boate." In each was "a small gutt or some 
such thing blowne full of winde, by reason whereof it 
floateth, and is rowed very swiftly, carrying in it no 
small burthen." At another, by name Mormorena, or 



288 The Boy's Drake 

Morro Morena, two Spanish officers were ruHng as 
governors. Drake would "try their courtesy" in the 
matter of traffic. They yielded gracefully, "more 
from feare than love/' however, the narrator avers; 
and a brisk trade followed with their people. Of all 
the novel things here found the sheep of the country 
were "most memorable." They were similar to those 
previously taken with the leather bags of gold, but 
bigger. In height and length, declares the narrative, 
they were equal to a "pretty cow," while their strength, 
if we are to accept these sailors' yarns, was enormous. 
" Vpon one of their backs did sit at one time three well 
growne and tall men, and one boy, no mans foot touch- 
ing the grounde by a large foot in length, the beast 
nothing at all complaining of his burthen in the meane 
time. 

The next adventure was at Arica, a Spanish town, 
and the port of the rich Potosi mines, which was 
reached on the seventh of February. This port Drake 
boldly entered. Within lay two. or three barks with 
only a lone negro in charge, all the crews being in the 
town, so secure from sea enemies was the region be- 
lieved to be. The negro was taken and the ships 
rifled. From one were got some forty odd (Pretty says 
fifty-seven) wedges of silver of the "bignesse and fash- 
ion of a brickbatte, and in waight each of them about 
20 pounds." Drake would have followed up the capt- 
ure with a sack of the warehouses of the little town, a 
settlement then of about twenty houses, had his com- 
pany been "better and more in number" to cope with 



"Making" the Voyage 289 

a force of horse that were there. Instead, he con- 
tented himself with keeping the place in alarm through 
the night following by the noise of his drums and 
trumpets. Early in the morning he was away, taking 
the captured negro along with him. 

Now he was hastening toward Callao, the port of 
Lima, to outrun the news of his presence in these 
waters which he feared might be sent there from 
Arica. His movements, moreover, were accelerated hy 
a report, which probably the captured negro had 
dropped, that a richly laden treasure-ship had sailed a 
short time before for Panama. This prize he must 
have. A breezy dash of a hundred miles brought him 
up to her. She was lying at anchor in a haven which 
the narrator calls Chule, a mistake, as Corbett thinks, 
for Chute, where is Hay, the port of Arequipa. To 
Drake's chagrin she was empty. A warning had 
reached her ahead of him from two of his prisoners 
that he had liberated; and two hours before his ar- 
rival she had discharged and hidden all her treasure. 
He had, therefore, only a valueless prize for his pains. 
A league offshore he made sail upon her and also upon 
his prizes taken at Arica, and left them to go whither 
they would, while he hurried on to Callao. A few 
leagues south of the port a Spanish bark was met 
coming therefrom. She was taken without any ado, 
and found to contain a cargo of linen. Her pilot he 
retained to conduct him into port. From her men he 
got word of another treasure-ship recently arrived at 
Callao, and this spurred him on. 



290 The Boy's Drake 

Callao was reached on the fifteenth day of February. 
In this harbour were moored some thirty vessels, of 
which seventeen, most of these the finest Spanish ships 
in the South Sea trade, were full laden. The sails of 
many were ashore, and all were under slight watch, 
for here, as elsewhere, the masters and merchants were 
fearing the "approach of none such as we were.'* 
Drake quietly dropped in at nightfall and anchored in 
the midst of the fleet. As quietly the rifling of the 
deserted ships was begun. In one, the "ship of one 
Mighall Angell," were fifteen bars of silver, a chest 
"full of royals of plate" [real de plata, a Spanish silver 
coin] some silks and linens. The chest was shifted to 
the "Golden Hind" with a goodly store of the silk and 
linens. From the few stray hands about this ship the 
Englishmen got their first news of Old-World hap- 
penings since their departure from England. But of 
greater moment as affecting their own affairs was the 
intelligence given by these sailors of a certain rich 
treasure-ship that had left this haven a fortnight before 
bound for Panama, and to touch at Paita on the way. 
She was the "gallant ship the Cacafuego, the great 
glory of the South Sea," full laden with bullion on its 
way to the Spanish king's treasury: the rarest game 
of the Pacific at that time. Here was a prize worth 
fighting for. Drake felt sure that with his lighter ship 
he could catch her notwithstanding her long start. So 
he hastened his present "business" that he might be 
off" for the chase. 

While the ships' looting was thus hurrying to a fin- 



*' Making" the Voyage 291 

ish a vessel from Panama came into the harbour and 
anchored close to the "Golden Hind/' At the same 
time a custom-house boat coming out from the shore 
pulled up alongside her to inquire who she was. One 
of Drake's Spanish prisoners was made to reply, 
"Michael Angelo's ship from Chih." At this one of 
the boat's men started to climb up her side. As he 
neared the deck his astonished eyes were gazing into 
the mouth of a great gun. Back he scrambled and 
back rushed the boat shoreward. A shower of arrows 
was sent after her to stop her and prevent her giving 
the alarm to the town, but without effect. In the con- 
fusion the ship from Panama had cut her cables and 
was making off for sea. Drake's pinnace put after 
her. Soon she was reached and surrender demanded. 
Her reply was a harquebus shot which killed one of 
the pinnace's crew. Now the "Golden Hind" was off. 
To prevent pursuit Drake had cut the cables of all the 
ships in the harbour, and the masts of the larger ones, 
and let them drive whither they would, either to sea 
or on the shore. One shot from the "Golden Hind" 
was sufficient to make the Panama ship strike. Some 
of her crew lowered her boat and abandoned her. 
Hurriedly overhauled, she was found to contain only 
Spanish merchandise. With her in tow Drake made 
ready for his chase. 

It was to be the most exhilarating chase of the whole 
marvellous voyage. At the outset, however, Drake 
was balked by an exasperating dead calm, and only by 
clever manoeuvring did he escape disaster. As the 



292 The Boy's Drake 

"Golden Hind" and her prize drifted off the mouth 
of Callao Bay, he could hear the bells of the town 
ringing out an alarm, and cries of "the French! the 
French!" By these cries it was some satisfaction to 
him, no doubt, to find that his identity had not yet 
been discovered, but his position was none the less 
perilous. The calm continued through the whole of 
the next day. Meanwhile in the town it had been 
learned that the enemy were not French but English, 
and preparations were making in hot haste for their 
pursuit. The Viceroy of Peru, Don Francisco de To- 
ledo, had hurried down from Lima with horse and 
foot, and had manned two of the drifting vessels in 
the harbour with soldiers to make after them. It was 
he who had found out who the enemy really were, 
from the arrows which Drake's men had fired into the 
custom-house boat. The pursuers got off upon the 
first gentle breeze that broke the calm, but before they 
could reach him Drake had managed by towing with 
his pinnace and ship's boat to get his ships out into the 
sea. And as they were approaching in the distance, he 
effected a clever ruse to turn them from the "Golden 
Hind" to the prize. Quietly and with the utmost 
haste he had the prisoners and prize crew transferred 
to the "Golden Hind," then, casting the prize off and 
letting her drive, while spreading all sail on the 
"Golden Hind," he sped away on the now increasing 
wind. The ruse was most successful. The pursuers 
drove directly for the prize, and by the time they re- 
covered her the "Golden Hind" was only a speck on 



"Making" the Voyage 293 

the horizon. They laboured after her all that day, but 
as night fell gave up the chase and returned discom- 
fited to port. Had they caught up with her they were 
powerless for action, for their ships had no guns, and 
the soldiers were in no condition for fighting, since 
most of these landsmen had become deathly seasick. 

Meanwhile the freshening breeze had developed into 
a little gale, and the "Golden Hind" was flying north- 
ward at a spanking pace. As she drew near "the 
line" the wind again died down, and her sailors were 
put to the oars. On the second day of her run a 
Spanish frigate was met and easily taken. From her 
pilot Drake learned that his prey was only three days 
ahead of him. Two more days' sailing brought him 
to Paita. The "Cacafuego" had left some time be- 
fore, but from the crew of another prize which he took 
here — a ship laden with wine — he found that he had 
gained a day on her. 

Now there seemed the prospect of a fight, for the 
"Cacafuego" was said to be unusually well armed and 
quite warranting her name, which freely Englished 
means the "Spitfire." Thus an added relish was 
given the chase. Continuing from Paita the ship and 
the pinnace sailed in extended line: the ship a league 
and a half to sea, the pinnace carrying Drake close 
inshore. All eyes were keenly on the lookout. To 
whoever on either craft should first descry the prey 
Drake had promised a chain of gold for reward. 

The next day out from Paita a third prize was taken. 
This was a Spanish bark bound from Guayaquil to 



294 The Boy's Drake 

Panama, laden with ships' ropes and tackhng, and 
having in her some eighty pounds weight of gold. She 
carried two friars as passengers; and a "gold crucifix 
studded with diamonds," which was among her 
plunder, may well have been theirs. The friars were 
set ashore together with her men, excepting the skipper 
and the supercargo, who were retained while the trans- 
fer of the treasure to the "Golden Hind" was made. 
During this operation Drake had a tussle with the 
supercargo. Some of the negroes of the crew had de- 
clared that there was some metal aboard not entered 
in the ship's papers. The supercargo stoutly denied 
this. Drake would not believe him and ordered him 
to be hung up till he confessed. He persisted in his 
denial. When a search had revealed no more than the 
papers called for he was released. This is the story as 
found in a deposition of John Drake, the captain's 
page, who some time after, in another expedition, not 
one of Drake's, was captured by the Spaniards. Nuiio 
da Silva gives another version of the affair. The au- 
thorised narrative does not mention it. If the story 
is true, it is the only charge or record of cruel treat- 
ment of his prisoners by Drake; and Corbett would 
set against this exceptional act the unusual excitement 
under which he was labouring at the time. When this 
prize was looted she was let drive whither she would 
like the rest. 

Forging ahead, within three more days Guayaquil 
was reached and passed without stopping. Five days 
later, the first day of March, Cape San Francisco was 



*' Making" the Voyage 295 

approached. Still no sign of the pursued ship. Now 
a fourth prize was overhauled: another ship from 
Guayaquil to Panama, with fifteen thousand pesos of 
gold on her. From one of her passengers it was 
learned that the "Cacafuego'* could not be far ahead. 
Quickly this prize was relieved of her treasure and 
the chase renewed with fresh hope. A few hours later 
the cape rose in view. Almost at this moment John 
Drake, the page, who had climbed to the mast-head, 
cried the prey in sight and claimed the golden chain. 
She was descried serenely proceeding on her course 
evidently with no suspicion that she was being chased. 

It was about three o'clock in the afternoon. Drake 
did not want to encounter her then. He would come 
upon her by surprise after nightfall. To check his 
progress by taking in sail would arouse her suspicion, 
for he was now in fair sight of her. So he resorted to 
a cunning device not uncommon with pirates of his 
time. It consisted in trailing at the ship's stern some 
heavy material which would reduce her speed while 
her sails were full set. In this case some empty wine 
jars, or casks, were used. Meanwhile the "Golden 
Hind's" decks were cleared for action. As night fell 
the distance between the chaser and chased had de- 
creased, but not enough to bring them dangerously 
near together. 

Early in the evening the chased was seen to have 
turned about and to be making for the chaser. It 
afterward appeared that her captain supposed his fol- 
lower to be a Spanish ship sent after him by the vice- 



296 The Boy's Drake 

roy of Peru with some message. Perhaps, Drake 
thought, she might be coming to ascertain who her 
follower was, and if an enemy to fight. Whatever the 
manoeuvre meant the moment for action had come. 
Immediately he cast off his drags and winged toward 
her. Meeting her, he ran under her stern and brought 
to alongside. 

The Spaniard's captain, also her owner — San Juan 
de Anton — hailed the stranger. There was no re- 
sponse. Then he demanded who she was. Answer 
went back, "A ship from Chili." At this Anton ap- 
peared at his ship's side peering over. Instantly arose 
from the stranger's deck a shout: 

"English! Strike sail!" 

Then a solitary voice: 

"Strike sail! Senor Juan de Anton, unless you wish 
to be sent to the bottom!" 

"Strike?" retorted the Spaniard. "What kind of a 
cruet-stand do you think this is to strike ? Come 
aboard and do it yourselves!" 

A whistle sounded from the stranger's deck. Im- 
mediately followed a trumpet call. Then a volley of 
shot and arrows. 

The astonished Spaniard strove hard to bear away. 
But in vain. A big gun's shot knocked his mizzen 
overboard. Repair of the damage was made impossi- 
ble by a steady rain of shot and arrows. Suddenly a 
pinnace which had silently approached laid aboard 
him at port, and some forty Englishmen were clamber- 
ing into his chains and pouring over his side. Now 




"SOME FORTY ENGLISHMEN WERE CLAMBERING INTO HIS 
CHAINS AND POURING OVER HIS SIDES." 



"Making" the Voyage 297 

Anton was alone on his deck his men having scram- 
bled below. Thus he was undone. He was taken at 
once to the "Golden Hind" where he first became 
aware who the stranger really was. Drake he saw in 
helmet and coat of mail, already disarming. His 
reception was courtly. "Accept with patience what is 
the usage of war," Drake graciously counselled as he 
ordered him below into confinement. 

It was all over within a few minutes from the sound- 
ing of Drake's signal whistle. Without the loss or 
hurt of one of his men, Drake found himself in posses- 
sion of the richest vessel in all the South Sea. In 
spite of her name the "Cacafuego" was but slightly 
armed. 

This is the story of the capture as Corbett finds it 
in a report of Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa who had 
it from Anton. None is given in the authorised narra- 
tive, while Pretty's account is in three lines: "We 
came to her and boarded her, and shot at her three 
peaces of ordinance and strake down her Misen." 

Through the rest of that night and all the next day 
and night Drake sailed the two ships together taking 
a direct course from the land out into the sea, and then 
feeling himself secure from molestation, he proceeded 
leisurely to gut the rare prize. 

Meanwhile the prisoners taken with her, officers 
and men, were treated handsomely. Anton was en- 
tertained at the captain's table, and was impressed 
with the stateliness and formality of the meals, which 
were served "to the sound of trumpets and other in- 



298 The Boy's Drake 

struments," as he afterward reported. He remarked 
also how Drake wa<s at once feared and reverenced by 
his men. Drake showed him all over the "Golden 
Hind/' particularly exhibiting her armament which 
Anton described as elaborate. And this done, he 
gave him a message, to deliver after his release, for 
Don Martin Enriquez, the Viceroy of New Spain, the 
same who broke faith with Hawkins and brought 
about the battle of San Juan d'Ulloa a decade before, 
and had since dealt hardly with Englishmen who had 
fallen into his hands. Anton was to tell him for Drake 
that he "must hang no more Englishmen, and that if 
he did not spare those he had in his hands he should 
receive a present of two thousand Spanish heads." 
When they came to part Drake presented Anton with 
a gilt corselet and a German firelock. His subordinate 
officers were also given presents in value according to 
their station, while each man of the crew was handed 
thirty or forty pesos and clothing. And finally Anton 
was provided with a letter of protection addressed to 
Captain Wynter, of the " Elizabeth," or to the officers 
of the " Marigold," in case he should fall in with one 
or the other of the missing consorts, praying that he 
be used well. 

The amount and value of the plunder taken from 
the "Cacafuego" are variously stated by the narrators. 
The authorised narrative says, "We found in her some 
fruits, conserues, sugars, meale, and other victuals, 
and (that which was especiallest cause of her heavy 
and slow sailing) a certain quantitie of iewels [jewels] 



" Making " the Voyage 299 

and precious stones, 13 chests of royals of plate, 80 
pounds waight of gold, 26 tunne of vncoyned siluer, 
two very faire gilt siluer drinking boules, and the like 
trifles, valued in all at about 360,000 pezoes." This 
was the value as given of the registered treasure alone. 
Corbett quotes Sarmiento as saying there was over 
four hundred thousand pesos unregistered. The two 
"very fair gilt silver" drinking cups belonged to the 
"Cacafuego's" pilot. When Drake's eye fell upon 
these he politely observed, " Senor Pilot, you have here 
two silver cups, but I must needes have one of them"; 
and one he as politely handed over, because, as Pretty, 
who tells of it, sagely remarks, "hee could not otherwise 
chuse." The other the pilot presented to the steward 
of the "Golden Hind," maybe for a similar reason. 

When the riches had been fully transferred to the 
"Golden Hind" the prisoners were discharged and 
their ship returned to them to continue the voyage to 
Panama. 

As her pilot left for her accompanied by his boy, the 
latter, a clever youth indeed with a pretty humour, 
spoke up to Drake blithely, "Captaine, our ship shall 
be called no more the 'Cacafuego' [Spitfire] but the 
'Cacaplata' [Spitsilver], and your shippe shall be called 
the 'Cacafuego.' " Which "pretie speech," the nar- 
rator records, " ministred matter of laughter to us both 
then and long after." 

Now thus early the voyage was "made," to Drake's 
complete satisfaction. The "Golden Hind" was lit- 
erally "balasted with silver," besides greatly enriched 



300 The Boy's Drake 

with a variety of other precious loot. Therefore he 
turned to the consideration of homeward routes. The 
scheme, in his original plan of an attack upon Panama 
from the Pacific side, was abandoned as unnecessary, 
and as unwise in view of his now wide discovery on 
this coast. How best to confound the pursuers, who 
he felt sure would be sooner or later on his track, and 
yet progress homeward, was the main question upon 
which his thoughts at this stage centred. 

Thus he came to finish the circumnavigation of the 
globe, and along the way to make discoveries, take 
possession of new lands for his queen, and have more 
and wondrous adventures. 



XXIII 
UP THE COAST 

IN his talks with Don Juan de Anton during the 
Spaniard's retention as his prisoner-guest, Drake 
spoke frankly of his purpose now to return to Eng- 
land, and to Anton's inquiry as to the route he would 
take he said that he had a choice of four ways. Pro- 
ducing a large chart, which he remarked parentheti- 
cally he had obtained from Lisbon for eight hundred 
ducats, and spreading it out on his cabin table, he 
traced or indicated three of these courses. These 
were: the first, Magellan's course across the Pacific 
westward by the Moluccas of the East Indian Archi- 
pelago, and by the Cape of Good Hope; the second, 
back the way he had come, through the Straits of 
Magellan and by the South Atlantic; the third, "by 
Norway," meaning what was then called the north- 
east passage to ** Cathay," which with other "unknown 
regions" the Merchant Adventurers of England, other- 
wise known as the Muscovy Company, had been 
formed in 1555 to discover and explore. 

The fourth he would not name. And what this was 
can only be conjectured. It may have been the new 

301 



Up the Coast 3^3 

way which Drake had discovered around Cape Horn, 
and which he was determined to keep secret because, 
as has been said, of its strategic importance. The 
guess of Sarmiento, with whom Anton afterward con- 
ferred, was that he might go by the way of the long 
sought-for north-west passage, the eastern outlet of 
which Sir Martin Frobisher supposed he had found 
three years before in Frobisher's Bay. At this time, as 
Corbett recalls, the Spanish navigators believed that 
somewhere north of Cape Mendocino, in ^California, 
there was a passage then known as the "Straits of 
Anian," through to Labrador, and Sarmiento felt sure 
that the English cosmographers had the secret of it. 
In fact this course may have been hinted to Anton, for 
Drake is quoted as saying that he would be home in 
six months, and Anton as replying that he could not 
do it in a year because he was going into a cul-de-sac, 
meaning that the "Straits of Anian" did not exist. 
Sarmiento's view is confirmed by the authorised nar- 
rative, which practically declares that the attempt to 
solve this problem of a northern passage between the 
Atlantic and Pacific by way of the west was part of 
Drake's original scheme, though kept to himself, brill- 
iantly to round up his adventure in encompassing the 

world. 

It is probable that the fourth way was the one that 
Drake had secretly determined to adopt, or at least 
to try, when talking with Anton. That failing, he 
would return by the westerly across-Pacific route. It 
is hardly possible that he seriously contemplated re- 



304 The Boy's Drake 

tracing his course. He could not go back down the 
coast without grave danger of an encounter with the 
"enemy" and at the jeopardy of his plunder. If he 
should succeed in reaching Magellan's Straits unmo- 
lested he might find there, guarding the passage and 
awaiting him, Spanish war-ships which it would be 
hardly possible to escape. And such dangers he would 
surely have run into had he gone back, for armed ships 
were even then scouring up the coast in search of him. 
Only three weeks after his taking of the "Cacafuego" 
the Peruvian squadron bound for Spain, upon which 
Sarmiento was sergeant-major, having joined the pur- 
suit, had reached Cape San Francisco. Here, fortu- 
nately for Drake, her commander, Don Luis de 
Toledo, declined Sarmiento's most earnest plea to con- 
tinue the chase northward across the open sea for Nic- 
aragua, and instead decided to keep the regular course 
to Panama. It may be that he was hastened to this 
decision by the report of Drake's strength which he 
got from Bravo, the captain and owner of the fourth 
prize taken during the long chase of the "Cacafuego," 
who told how the English corsair "went boasting he 
feared neither God nor man!" Had Toledo followed 
Sarmiento's advice he would have been pretty sure ulti- 
mately to have come up with his chase, for the direc- 
tion that Sarmiento indicated was the one Drake took 
after parting with Anton and the gutted "Cacafuego." 
It was then as they were sailing onward that Drake, 
for appearance sake, put the question of their next 
course to his council, for doubtless according to his 



up the Coast 305 

wont he had decided it in his own mind. He had not 
given up his consorts as lost or even permanently parted 
from for this voyage, but it was useless, he showed, 
further to search for them along the coast. Accord- 
ingly he advised, first to seek out some convenient 
place wherein to trim the ship and to store it with 
wood, water, and such other provisions as could be 
found; and then, as the authorised narrative records, 
"to hasten our intended journey for the discovery of 
the said passage through which we might with joy 
returne to our longed homes." To which all the 
company "willingly barkened and consented." 

The place for trimming the ship was shrewdly se- 
lected. It was to the northward, on the coast of Costa 
Rica, some one hundred leagues off from Panama: a 
sheltered creek between the main and a lonely island 
by the narrator called "Caines," meaning Cano, in 
Coronado Bay. The arrival here was on the i6th of 
March, 1579. Before a day had passed a Spanish 
frigate appeared sailing close to the island, and the 
pinnace was sent in chase of her. She was speedily 
overhauled and taken with a cargo of sarsaparilla, 
butter, honey, and other good things. This fortui- 
tous happening was fraught with important conse- 
quences. Among her passengers were two China 
pilots, with all their charts and sailing directions, whom 
Don Martin Enriquez, the Viceroy of New Spain (Mex- 
ico) was sending to Panama to conduct a high official 
across the Pacific to the Philippines. These charts 
and directions were of inestimable value to Drake. If 



3o6 The Boy's Drake 

he failed to find his north-east short cut home his 
across-Pacific way was here clearly marked out. One 
of the two pilots he would take into his service, and he 
offered the man a thousand ducats to navigate the 
"Golden Hind" across the Pacific. The offer was 
refused. Drake increased it by offering fifty ducats to 
the pilot's wife. Still he refused. Then Drake told 
him he must go with him whether or no, and put him 
in confinement. The other passengers, with the crew, 
were all taken in the pinnace and dismissed ashore, 
but the prize was retained, as useful for receiving the 
"Golden Hind's" big guns and cargo during the 
operation of careening. 

The work finished, sails were again set and the voy- 
age continued toward Guatulco, or Aguatulco, a small 
port of Guatemala in the eastern arm of Tehuantepec 
Bay, where it was expected the desired water and pro- 
visions could be obtained. On the way, during a 
moonlight night, Saturday, April 4, another fine prize 
was swooped down upon and taken without a blow. 
This was a rich-laden merchant-ship. She was ten 
days out from the Mexican port of Acapulco, bound 
for Peru, with a cargo of China goods, silks, linens, 
and porcelain dishes. Her owner was on board — Don 
Francisco de Zarate, a Spanish gentleman, to whom 
we are indebted for a vivid picture of Drake and the 
"Golden Hind" as they appeared at this time. 

The story of the daring capture of his ship is best 
told from the account he afterward gave in a let- 
ter to Don Martin Enriquez. She was sailing along 



up the Coast 307 

placidly, with no thought of danger in these secure 
seas, for no word of the English corsair had been 
heard by owner or crew, when suddenly her steersman 
saw looming in the moonlight a large ship apparently 
about to run her down. Thinking that the stranger's 
crew were all asleep he shouted a warning to "keep 
clear!" Word came back from her in Spanish that 
she was "Michael Angelo's ship." Now nearer, and 
apparently about to pass, she was seen to be towing 
a smaller vessel at her stern. As she was passing, the 
smaller craft swung to the Spaniard's quarter. In- 
stantly a volley of shot came over Zarate's vessel, and 
the next moment men were swarming over her rail 
with the demand for her surrender. Of course in such 
a complete surprise resistance was useless. All the 
prisoners were treated with marked courtesy. The 
ship's officers were merely politely deprived of their 
rapiers and keys. Zarate was at once taken aboard 
the "Golden Hind" and brought into the presence of 
the commander. 

Drake was pacing the deck as Zarate stepped over 
the rail, and coming up received him "with good 
countenance." Upon the exchange of salutations 
Drake conducted him to his cabin and, inviting him 
to be seated, addressed him in this fashion, as Zarate 
reported : 

"I am a very good friend to those who deal with me 
truly, but to those who do not — And so you shall 
tell me, for this is the best way to stand well with me, 
what silver or gold that ship carries." 



3o8 The Boy's Drake 

Zarate replied, "None." 

Drake repeated the question. 

"None," repeated Zarate, "only one or two plates 
on which I am served and one or two cups; and that 
is all." 

Drake remained silent a while, then he asked whether 
Zarate knew the viceroy, Don Martin Enriquez. Za- 
rate replied that he did. Was any relative of the vice- 
roy's or anything belonging to his excellency with 
him? The response was "No." "Because," Drake 
went on, "I would rather meet with him than with 
all the gold and silver in the Indies that I might shew 
him how to keep the word of a gentleman!" 

With this Drake rose and led Zarate down to a 
lower steerage cabin which was used as a prison. In 
the far end of it an old man was sitting. Pointing to 
the old man Drake asked whether he knew him. 
Zarate replied, "No." "Then learn," said Drake, 
"that it is a pilot whom the viceroy was sending to 
Panama to take Don Gonzalo to China, and he is 
called Colchero." Thereupon he ordered Colchero to 
be let out and, taking him along with Zarate, returned 
to the deck. Here the three talked together till din- 
ner-time, though about what is not stated. 

At dinner Drake gave Zarate the place of honour at 
his right hand, and helped him from his own cover. 
He would have the Spaniard at ease for he assured 
him there was no cause for alarm: his life and property 
were safe; all that he, Drake, wanted, was additional 
water and provisions for his ship, and as soon as these 



up the Coast 309 

were found the prize with her people would be re- 
leased. 

Now here we have in miniature Zarate's pen picture 
of Drake, ship, and company, at this height of their 
glory on the South Sea. 

The Captain. Short, with a ruddy beard, a man 
apparently of about thirty-five years, "one of the great- 
est mariners there are on the sea alike for his skill and 
his power to command." . . . He treats his men "with 
affection and they him with respect." He keeps, how- 
ever, "very strict discipline and punishes the slightest 
fault." At his table, to which are admitted the gentle- 
men of his council and the Portuguese pilot, he is 
served with "much plate, with gilt borders and tops, 
and engraved with his arms; and has all possible 
kinds of delicacies and scents, many of which, he says, 
the queen gave him. None of the gentlemen sit or 
cover in his presence, until first being ordered once 
and even several times." They dine and sup "to the 
music of violins." 

The Ship. A "galleon of about four hundred tons; 
a very fast sailer." She "carries about thirty pieces 
of heavy ordnance, and a large quantity of fireworks, 
and a great deal of ammunition and other necessaries. 
She is not only of the latest type but sheathed." 

The Company. "There are aboard her a hundred 
men, all skilled hands and of warlike age, and all so 
well trained that they might be old soldiers of the 
Italian tertias [regiments]. Every one is specially care- 
ful to keep his harquebus clean." There are carried 



310 The Boy's Drake 

''nine or ten gentlemen, cadets of high famiHes in 
England," who are "members of his [Drake's] council, 
and he calls them together upon all occasions however 
simple; and although he takes counsel from no one, 
he is pleased to hear their opinion before issuing his 
orders. He has no favourites." He "carries all the 
appliances of carpenters and caulkers so as to careen 
his ship when there is occasion." He "has painters, 
too, who sketch all the coast in its proper colors." 
This troubled Zarate to see "most of all, because it 
was so true to nature that whosoever follows him can 
by no means lose his way." Zarate understood that 
"all the men he carries are paid, because when they 
plundered our ship nobody dared take anything with- 
out his orders." 

What Drake took from him Zarate declared was 
really not much. He "played the courtier," Zarate 
wrote, "for finding certain toys of mine he ordered 
them to be passed on board his own ship, and gave me 
in exchange a carved dagger and a silver chafing-dish, 
and I promise your Excellency, he lost nothing by the 
bargain. When he came back he begged I would ex- 
cuse him because he had taken them as presents for 
his wife; and he said I should go on the morrow when 
the sea-breeze came." The "toys" probably included 
a "fawlcon of golde with a great emerauld in the heart 
of it," which Pretty enumerates among the plunder 
taken. 

The sea-breeze coming on the morrow, Drake was 
true to his word. Zarate and his people were duly 



Up the Coast 311 

liberated, his ship was formally restored to him, and 
he was sent off greatly impressed with the chivalrous 
treatment he had received at his captor's hand. Yet, 
courtly as he was, emulating the don in all those amen- 
ities of the gracious art of politeness brought to its per- 
fection in the Spaniard, Drake would have the last im- 
pression on the mind of his enforced guest — that of his 
own invincibleness: confident that Zarate would pass 
it to Don Martin Enriquez and other Spanish authori- 
ties on the coast. The pinnace that conveyed him 
back to his ship, under the escort of Drake in person, 
he observed to be equipped, significantly, with six 
small guns and manned by twenty-four harquebusiers. 
To Zarate's sailors Drake gave each at parting a hand- 
ful of silver coin. His last act was to release the old 
China pilot and give him up to Zarate. Probably he 
deemed the old fellow's sailing directions and charts 
quite sufficient for his purpose, and was not sorry to, 
dispense with an unwilling servant. 

With the departure of Zarate Drake immediately 
resumed his course to Guatulco, and so cleverly had he 
managed that he was enabled to reach that port in ad- 
vance of any alarm that his released prisoners might 
have spread in that direction. His entry was in the 
full light of day, but so quietly was it made that the 
little place was completely surprised. The townsfolk 
chanced to be engrossed in the trial of two negroes 
charged with conspiring to burn the town, and before 
they were aware that a strange sail had appeared in 
their harbour, Drake had silently landed a detachment 



312 The Boy's Drake 

of his men, who had surrounded the court-house, capt- 
ured judges and prisoners, and hustled them off to 
the ship. This performance was not a lark but a 
strategic move with a definite purpose, as the next act 
disclosed. This was a demand upon the chief judge 
to write a letter commanding all the townsmen to 
** avoid," that is quit, the town that the strangers 
might safely obtain the supplies they had come for. 
The order duly issued and the town cleared, watering 
parties were landed and went about their work. Others 
followed and proceeded to ransack the place. The 
looters, however, got little of value beyond a "pot of 
the quantitie of a bushell full of reals of plate," which 
was found in one of the houses. Among these looters 
was the versatile Tom Moone who again distinguished 
himself by catching a belated Spanish gentleman on 
the run after his departed townsmen. Then Moone 
fell from grace by playing the highwayman. Before 
he would let the gentleman go he made him hand over 
a gold chain and some jewels that were about his 
person. 

The next morning, April i6, when a plentiful supply 
of water and a variety of victuals had been taken on, 
all preparations for the homeward voyage were com- 
plete. Then the local prisoners were returned ashore; 
Nuno da Silva, the Portuguese pilot who had so long 
and so skilfully served since his impressment at the 
Cape Verdes, was also discharged, probably at his 
own request, put aboard a Spanish ship lying in the 
harbour, and the "Golden Hind" was finally off for 



Up the Coast 313 

her new and strange course, Drake now to depend 
upon his genius alone for guidance. 

First he steered west, directly into the sea, for a 
wind, and so sailed some five hundred leagues. Then 
he turned north and in that direction ploughed stead- 
ily onward for forty-seven days, till on the third of 
June he found himself as he reckoned in forty-two or 
forty-three degrees north latitude. He was, in fact, at 
sea off the coast of the present great State of Oregon. 
During the following night an astonishing change in 
the temperature, which up to that time had been nor- 
mally high, was experienced. It dropped suddenly to 
"extreame and nipping cold." With the coming of day 
came no relief. On the contrary, the "pinching and 
biting aire" was if anything keener. If we are to be- 
lieve the authorised narrative, the very ropes of the 
ship were stiff, and a rain was falling which froze as it 
fell. Still Drake kept on northward while it grew stead- 
ily colder. In sailing but two degrees farther "it came 
to that extremetie that though sea-men lack not good 
stomaches, yet it seemed a question to many amongst 
vs whether their hands should feed their mouthes or 
rather keepe themselues within their couerts from the 
pinching cold that did benumme them." Their meat, 
the narrator avers, " as soone as it was remoued from the 
fire would presently in a manner be frozen up." The 
ropes and tackling were in a few days grown "to that 
stiffnesse that what three men afore were able with them 
to performe, now six men with their best strength and 
vttermost endeavour were hardly able to accomplish." 



314 The Boy's Drake 

With these tribulations a "great discouragement" 
fell upon the company. But Drake himself would not 
be dismayed. Perhaps the sharp change in tempera- 
ture led him to fancy he was approaching the supposed 
passage east to Labrador. If so, he kept his own 
counsel and bent his energies to the immediate neces- 
sity of heartening his men. Bearing himself with un- 
broken cheerfulness and buoyancy he made them 
"comfortable speeches" of "the divine providence, and 
of God's louing care over his children," taken "out of 
the Scriptures." These he followed up with appeals 
to their manhood and pride. They should acquit 
themselves Hke men. They should "indure some 
short extremitie to haue the speedier comfort, and a 
little trouble to obtain the greater glory." And such 
was his persuasiveness, and so infectious his courage, 
that their "misHke and doubting" gradually faded 
away and every man, as the narrator records, became 
"throughly armed with willingnesse, and resolued to 
see the vttermost, if it were possible, of what good was 
to be done that way." 

Unexpectedly, two days after striking this extraor- 
dinary weather, the like of which in the region and 
season has never since been recorded, on June 5, the 
voyagers found themselves close to land. They thus 
discovered that the coast of this part of America trended 
westward rather than eastward as they had before 
imagined. Contrary winds forced them to run in with 
the shore and seek an anchoring place. The best that 
they could find was a "bad bay," ill protected from 



up the Coast 315 

the fierce gusts that beat upon the ship. It was, as 
identified by Prof. George Davidson of the United 
States Coast and Geodetic Survey, an open roadstead 
off the mouth of the Chetko River, beside Cape Fer- 
relo, on the southern Oregon coast. 

They had scarcely cast anchor before they were as- 
sailed by a succession of violent squalls, with intervals 
of "most vile, thicke, and stinking fogges," against 
which there was "no dealing or resisting." It was 
clear that in this place there was "no abiding" for 
them. But whither should they go? They errone- 
ously reckoned that they had beaten up to forty-eight 
degrees north latitude. They were far north of Cape 
Mendocino, above which the fabulous Strait of Anian 
eastward was said to open and there was no sign of it. 
Drake himself now began to doubt the usefulness of 
farther-north sailing, and to reason that if the passage 
did exist it was unnavigable. Meanwhile the "Golden 
Hind" had put to sea again, and while Drake was de- 
bating the question, her next course was settled out of 
hand by a renewal of the north-westerly gale which 
drove her back southward and now along the coast. 

For a fortnight they were thus driven, experiencing 
the same cold and thick weather. The coast was ob- 
served to be low with small hills in the background, 
their summits covered with snow, though it was near 
mid-June. At length, in thirty-eight degrees and 
thirty minutes, as they reckoned, they fell in with what 
looked, and proved, to be a "convenient and fit har- 
bough"; and here, on the 17th of June, anchor was 



3i6 The Boy's Drake 

again dropped, and three days later a landing was 
made. This " convenient harbough " Professor David- 
son has satisfactorily identified as the haven that lies 
under the eastern promontory of Point Reyes Head, a 
little north of San Francisco Bay; it now bears Drake's 
name as "Sir Francis Drake's Harbor." 

Thus it appears that Drake was the first European 
that saw the coast of Oregon and anchored off its 
shores; the first European to anchor in the upper Cali- 
fornian bay that properly perpetuates his name; and 
the first European to rediscover upper California a 
generation after its coast had last been explored. 

Here he was to become the central figure In a suc- 
cession of extraordinary performances by the natives, 
and at length to take formal possession of the country 
in the name of his queen, the story of which reads like 
a romance rather than a chapter of sober history. 



XXIV 
TAKEN FOR GODS 

THE morning after the ship had come to anchor 
natives were descried gathering on the shore. 
Presently a canoe with a single occupant was 
seen to put olF from them toward the ship. When a 
little way from the shore the canoeist began making 
signs to the ship. Coming to within a "reasonable 
distance'* of her he stopped, and proceeded to deliver 
a "long and tedious oration," with much gesturing, 
and turning his head and body "many wayes." At its 
conclusion he bowed "with great shew of reverence" 
and returned to the shore. This performance was 
twice repeated, and then the canoeist came bearing 
presents : a bunch of feathers, " much Hke the feathers 
of a black crow," finely cut and of equal lengths, and a 
basket filled with herbs. The feathers, as was after- 
ward learned, were such as the native kings wore on 
the heads, the herbs were called "Tobah," presumed 
to have been tobacco: the basket was of rushes. Bind- 
ing these off'erings to a short rod, he cast them into the 
ship's boat which had been sent out to meet him car- 
rying gifts for his people. As the ship's boat neared 

317 



3i8 The Boy's Drake 

him he seemed shy and held off. Thereupon the Eng- 
Hshmen's presents were put on a board and floated 
toward him. But he would not receive them, politely 
declining by gestures. A hat, however, which was 
thrown him from the ship's deck, took his fancy, and 
with this on his head, adorning his almost naked body, 
he paddled back to the shore. Then he joined his 
people and all departed. 

What these performances signified the Englishmen 
could not imagine. Apparently the canoeist was an 
ambassador from the assemblage and his mission was 
friendly. This may have been the theme of his "long 
and tedious" oration. But why such a marked dis- 
play of homage ? For what, or whom, did they take 
the company ? With the riddle unsolved preparations 
were made to remain in this place till the "Golden 
Hind" could be repaired, for in the stress of hard 
weather she had sprung a leak at sea. Accordingly 
she was brought to anchor nearer the shore, the com- 
pany were landed, tents set up on the strand at the foot 
of a hill, and the building of a fort begun for their 
shelter and protection during their stay. This was on 
June 20. 

While all hands were busied in this work groups of 
natives reappeared on the summit of the hill, and pres- 
ently came hastening down in warlike array. But it 
was soon evident that curiosity and wonder impelled 
them rather than fear or hostility. And now the rid- 
dle was solved. The white-faced, strangely garbed 
visitors were to them supernatural beings. Standing 



Taken for Gods 319 

apart they gazed at the company, wide-eyed and 
greatly concerned, "their errand being rather with 
submission and feare to worship vs as Gods, then 
[than] to haue any warre with vs as with mortall men." 
Yet Drake would take no chances, and while bearing 
himself most graciously he willed them by signs to lay 
aside their bows and arrows. This they cheerfully did, 
as did other groups, women coming with the men, that 
followed close upon them. As was his wont, Drake 
by his tact and generous giving of alluring presents 
gradually overcame their reserve. But strive as he 
would, neither he nor his men could drive from these 
savages' minds the conviction that they were gods. 
Among other things, the company ate and drank in 
their presence, "giving them to understand that they 
could not Hue without food and drink, and therefore 
were but men as well as they." But all to no purpose, 
the strange comers must be gods and so must be wor- 
shipped. All this heathenism shocked the Protestant 
mariners and made them uneasy. 

Toward nightfall, when they had had their "fill of 
visiting and beholding," the natives departed "with 
joy" to their homes, some three-quarters of an Eng- 
lish mile from the fort. But that night the Englishmen 
were dismayed by hearing strange sounds coming from 
their village. These were " a kind of most lamentable 
weeping and crying out," the cries of women rising 
above the others in "most doleful shriekings." The 
din was kept up for a long time and the hearers felt 
sure that it had to do with their presence. Perhaps 



320 The Boy's Drake 

the natives were at some kind of sacrifice preparatory 
to an humbHng of themselves before the supposed vis- 
iting gods, Hov^ever, they did not reappear the next 
day or through the next; and without losing any time 
in efforts to account for the strange night performance 
the whole company set diligently to the work in hand 
that they might be prepared for any emergency. So 
rapidly did they labour that at the end of the second 
day they had their camp established, the fort completed, 
their temporary settlement intrenched with rough walls 
of stone; had shifted the precious cargo from the 
"Golden Hind" to their enclosure, and had made the 
ship ready for her repairs. 

Toward dusk of this day, the natives were seen again 
assembling on the hill and evidently preparing for some 
new demonstration. They were in much larger num- 
bers than before, men, women, and children. Presently 
out from the throng a figure advanced and took posi- 
tion well forward. He was another orator. Like the 
first one, him of the canoe, he launched forth into a 
"long and tedious" harangue addressed to the stran- 
gers. So extended was this oration and so vigorous 
its delivery, with violent gestures, a shouting voice, a 
rapid fire of words, "falling so thicke one in the necke 
of another that he could hardly fetch breath againe," 
that it not only wearied his hearers but himself. At 
its end the whole concourse, with a "reverent bowing 
of their bodies in a dreamy manner," cried, "Oh!" as 
"evidently in approval of all he had said." 

Then the men of the assemblage all laid down their 



Taken for Gods 321 

bows and arrows and descended the hill bearing gifts: 
feathers, and baskets of "Tobah" as before; while 
the women and children remained behind. Drake 
and the whole company were drawn up to meet the 
oncoming throng, and when the gift-bearers found that 
he would accept their offerings they expressed by signs 
a great happiness. "No doubt," the narrator observes, 
"they thought themselves neerest vnto God when they 
sat or stood next him." 

Meanwhile the women back on the hill-top had 
lifted up their voices in cries and piteous shrieks like 
the wailings of the first night's performance. And 
now, to the horror of the Englishmen, they were seen 
to be "tormenting themselves lamentably," tearing the 
flesh from their cheeks with their finger nails, casting 
themselves upon the hard ground and loose stones and 
cruelly bruising their bodies. This the horrified on- 
lookers felt must be a bloody sacrifice of these heathen 
folk to them in their supposed character of gods. 
Thereupon Drake and all his men fell on their knees 
to prayers. Here was a scene that might well inspire 
an American painter to a great American historical 
picture: the kneeling Englishmen on the glittering 
strand, soldiers, sailors, in picturesque sixteenth-cen- 
tury garb, with the great captain at their head; the 
crowd of dusky savages, lithe of form, their almost 
naked bodies displaying their fine physique, their heads 
bedecked with feathers, their faces lighted up with a 
curious interest as they gazed at the strange spectacle; 
the throng of wailing women on the hill-top, swinging 



322 The Boy's Drake 

their arms, swaying their bodies in a frenzy of idola- 
trous devotion. 

As they prayed, the kneeling men by signs in lifting 
up their hands and casting their eyes to the heavens, 
endeavoured to signify to these people "that that God 
v^hom we did serue and whom they ought to worship 
was aboue." Then psalms were sung, and with the 
reading of "certaine chapters in the Bible" the service 
closed. Through it all the savages listened with rapt 
attention, and to the Englishmen's amens they deco- 
rously responded with their approving exclamation of 
"Oh!" But they found the greatest entertainment in 
the Englishmen's psalm-singing. 

With the end of these services, during which the 
women's presumed sacrifice was suspended, they too 
having become absorbed in the spectacle, the natives 
again all withdrew. Before the throng of savage men 
parted with the company they returned the gifts Drake 
had forced upon them in exchange for theirs, "think- 
ing themselves sufficiently enriched and happie that 
they had found so free access to see vs." 

For three days more the natives kept away. Then 
toward the end of the third day a greater concourse 
than ever appeared on the hill-top. Evidently the 
neighbouring country had been drawn upon and this 
was a gathering of tribes with their chief men, about to 
make some momentous demonstration. 

When apparently all were in order two figures were 
seen to issue forth and advance down the hill. Mid- 
way they halted, and one proceeded to deliver the cus- 



Taken for Gods 323 

tomary oration, the other acting as prompter, whisper- 
ing to the orator the words of the harangue. The 
two men were guessed, as it proved, to have been sent 
out to inform Drake that their "Hioh, that is their 
King," had come to wait upon him. At the finish of 
his speech the spokesman by signs invited Drake to 
give them something to take back to their "Hioh" as 
a "token that his coming might be in peace." This 
Drake cheerfully did, and they hastily returned. Then 
the whole assemblage were seen to be in motion, and 
soon were advancing in stately procession. 

It must have been a weird spectacle to the on-lookers 
below. As they came, the whole throng "cryed con- 
stantly after a singing manner with a lustie courage." 
In the forefront marched a stalwart fellow of "goodly 
aspect," bearing a "Septer or royall mace," made of a 
black wood and about half a yard in length. From it 
depended two crowns, one larger than the other; three 
chains of "a marvellous length and often doubled"; 
and a bag of "Tobah." The crowns were of "knit- 
worke wrought vpon most curiously with feathers of 
diuers colours, very artfully placed and of a formal 
fashion." The chains seemed to be of a "bony sub- 
stance euery linke or parte thereof being very little, 
thinne, most finely burnished, with a hole pierced 
through the middest." Then came the king sur- 
rounded by his guard of a hundred "tall and warlike 
men." His majesty was of a "goodly stature and 
comely personage." On his head he wore a "cawle 
of knitworke wrought vpon somewhat like the crownes. 



324 The Boy's Drake 

but differing much both in fashion and perfectnesse of 
worke/' From his shoulders reaching to his waist fell 
a coat made of the skins of conies. His hundred 
guardsmen wore similar mantles but of other skins, 
and some of them also had "cawles" stuck with feath- 
ers, or covered over with a "certaine downe," This 
down grew in the country "vpon a herbe much like 
our lectuce," and exceeded all other down "in the 
world for finenesse." So highly was it esteemed by 
the natives that it was permitted to be worn only by 
such persons as were about the king, while the seeds of 
the herb were reserved for use in sacrifice to their 
gods. 

Following the king and his guard came the "naked 
sort of common people," the hair of the men gathered 
into a bunch at the back of the head and stuck with 
plumes of feathers, "but in the forefront onely single 
feathers like homes." Every man's face was painted, 
"some with white, some blacke, and some in other 
colours." Each carried in his hand something or 
other for a gift to the strangers. After this throng 
the train ended with the women and children. Each 
woman bore pressed against her breast a round basket 
or two having in them various things: the favourite 
"Tobah"; down seeds; a root "which they call 
Petah, whereof they make a kind of meale and either 
bake it into bread or eate it raw"; broiled fish, "like 
a pilchard." The baskets, woven of rushes, were 
adorned with the "matted downe of red feathers" and 
with chains of the "shells of pearls," signifying that 



Taken for Gods 325 



they were "vessels wholly dedicated to the onely vse 
of the gods they worshipped." , 

Meanwhile Drake, determined to stand on sure 
ground in readiness to offset any possible hostile sur- 
prise, had assembled his company, marched them 
into the fenced enclosure, and formed them in military 
order, so that they presented a "most warlike shew" 
the very "beholding" of which he reasoned would be 
likely to discourage the oncomers did they really mean 
mischief. But mischief was furthest from their 
thoughts. They were indeed to execute a surprise, 
but a surprise the opposite of hostile, and one which 
Drake could not have imagined. Let the story from 
this point continue in the quaint detail of the authorised 
narrative. 

"When they were come somewhat neere vnto vs, 
trooping together, they gaue vs a common or generall 
salutation, obseruing in the meane time a generall 
silence. Wherevpon, he who bare the Scepter before 
the king, being prompted by another whom the king 
assigned to that office, pronounced with an audible 
and manly voice what the other spake to him in secret, 
continuing, whether it were his oration or proclama- 
tion, at the least halfe an houre. At the close whereof 
there was a common Amen, in signe of approbation, 
given by every person." Then the king himself, with 
the whole number of men and women, "came farther 
downe the hill, and as they came set themselues againe 
in their former order. And being now come to the 
foot of the hill and neere our fort, the Scepter bearer, 



326 The Boy's Drake 

with a composed countenance and stately carriage, be- 
gan a song, and answerable thereunto obserued a kind 
of measure in a dance: whom the king with his guard, 
and euery other sort of person following, did in like 
manner sing and daunce, sauing onely the women, 
who danced but kept silence. As they danced they 
still came on: and our Generall perceiuing their plaine 
and simple meaning, gaue order that they might freely 
enter without interruption within our bulwarke. Where, 
after they had entred, they yet continued their song 
and dance a reasonable time, their women also fol- 
lowing them with their wassaile boales in their 
hands." 

The song and dance at length ended, "they made 
signes to our Generall to haue him sit down; unto 
whom both the king and diuers others made seuerall 
orations, or rather, indeed, if wee had vnderstood them, 
supplications, that hee would take the Province and 
kingdome into his hand, and become their king and 
patron: making signes that they would resigne vnto 
him their right and title in the whole land, and become 
his vassals in themselues and their posterities. Which 
that they might make vs indeed beleeue that it was 
their true meaning and intent, the king himselfe, with 
all the rest, with one consent and great reuerence, ioy- 
fuUy singing a song, set the crowne vpon his head, in- 
riched his necke with all their chaines, and, offering 
vnto him many other things, honoured him by the 
name of Hyoh. Adding thereunto (as it might seeme) 
a song and dance of triumph; because they were not 



Taken for Gods 327 



onely visited of the gods (for so they still iudged vs to 
be), but the great and chiefe God was now become 
their God, their king and patron, and themselues were 
become the onely happie and blessed people in the 
world." 

The surprised Drake thought it "not meet" to de- 
cline these offerings so freely made "both for that he 
would not giue them any cause of mistrust or disliking 
of him (that being the onely place wherein at this 
present we were of necessitie inforced to seeke reliefe 
of many things), and chiefely for that he knew not to 
what good end God had brought this to passe, or what 
honour and profit it might bring to our countrie in 
time to come. Wherefore in the name and to the vse 
of her most excellent maiesty, he tooke the scepter, 
crowne, and dignity of the sayd countrie into his hand; 
wishing nothing more than that it had layen so fitly 
for her maiesty to enioy, as it was now her proper 
owne, and that the riches and treasures thereof (where- 
with in the vpland countries it abounds) might with a 
great conueniency be transported, to the enriching of 
her kingdome here at home, as it is in plenty to be 
attained there; and especially that so tractable and 
louing a people as they shewed themselues to be, 
might haue meanes to haue manifested their most will- 
ing obedience the more vnto her, and by her meanes, 
as a mother and nurse of the Church of Christ, might 
by the preaching of the Gospell, be brought to the 
right knowledge and obedience of the true and euer- 
liuing God." 



328 The Boy's Drake 

Drake wore his honours with dignity and with a 
kindly care of these simple people during the remainder 
of his stay on the California shore. They constantly 
resorted to the fort and followed the work on the ship 
with untiring interest. Every third day they brought 
their sacrifices till at length the Englishmen succeeded 
in making them clearly understand that these acts 
were most displeasing. Still, though their zeal in this 
matter abated, they could not be convinced that the 
company were other than gods, and of that mind they 
steadfastly remained to the last. 

At length the work of repairing, careening, and re- 
lading the ship was finished, and Drake, accompanied 
by his gentlemen and many of the company, made a 
journey up into the land, "to see the manner of their 
[the natives] dwelling, and to be the better acquainted 
with the nature and commodities of the country." 
Several villages were visited. The huts were covered 
dug-outs circular in form. Upon the rims of the cir- 
cle were set up clefts of wood joined together at the 
top "like our spires or the steeple of a Church," and 
these were covered with earth which made the struct- 
ure water-tight and warm. The door generally per- 
formed the office also of a chimney to let out the smoke 
of the fire which was generally in the middle of the 
interior. The beds of the occupants were of rushes 
strewn on the ground. The people were found invari- 
ably to be of a "tractable, free and louing nature with- 
out guile or treachery." Their weapons were only 
bows and arrows. They used these skilfully, but "not 



Taken for Gods 329 



to do any great harme with them," for they were weak 
affairs, "more fit for children than for men," the ar- 
rows speeding neither far nor with any great force. 
Yet the men were of uncommon strength. One could 
carry on his back what two or three of the English 
could hardly bear, and convey it easily uphill and down 
an English mile together. They were swift of foot, 
and more generally ran than walked. The men were 
for the most part naked. The women wore a loose 
garment woven of bulrushes, and about their shoul- 
ders a deerskin with the hair on it. 

The country, however, impressed the party more than 
the villages. To their eyes it appeared a goodly coun- 
try, fruitful of soil, "stored with many blessings fit for 
the vse of men." And P etty in his account makes 
this significant note, anticipating the discoveries re- 
served for nearly three centuries later: "There is no 
part of earth heere to be taken vp wherein there is not 
some probable shew of gold or silver." They mar- 
velled at the infinite quantity of very large fat deer, 
thousands seemingly in a herd, and at the multitude 
of a strange kind of cony. 

Having returned from this journey, preparations 
were begun for the resumption of the voyage. They 
had been here for a month and Drake was getting 
anxious over his further course. The last formal act 
was the setting up of a monument in witness of their 
occupation of the country, and the right and title of 
the English queen and her successors to the kingdom. 
This was a brass plate nailed to a tree, upon which 



330 The Boy's Drake 

were cut Queen Elizabeth's name; the day and year 
of the company's arrival here; announcement of the 
"free giuing vp of the province and kingdome both by 
the king and people into her maiestie's hands"; and 
finally the name of Francis Drake. And in the plate, 
"in a hole made for the purpose," v^as inserted the 
queen's portrait and arms, comprised in a "piece of 
sixpence currant English monie." Then Drake for- 
mally proclaimed the country as "Nev^ Albion" by 
name, so naming it "for tv^o causes: the one, in re- 
spect of the v^hite banckes and cliffes which lie toward 
the sea," suggesting to their homesick eyes the white 
cliffs of England; "the other, that it might have some 
affinity even in name also, with our owne country 
which was sometimes so called," Albion, the name of 
ancient Britain. 

That Drake deemed the rediscovery of this new 
country, its transfer from its monarch and people to 
him, and his occupation of it for Queen Elizabeth and 
England, one of the most important features, if not the 
most important, of his great voyage, there can be no 
doubt. The authorised narrative with the statement 
that "the Spaniards never had any dealing, or so much 
as set a foote in this country, the utmost of their dis- 
coueries reaching onely to many degrees southward of 
this place," presents him as the real discoverer. This 
is not strictly correct, for in 1542-43 the Spanish ex- 
pedition starting from Acapulco, under the command 
of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator, 
who died during the voyage in the harbour of San 



Taken for Gods 331 

Diego, explored this coast as far north as Cape Men- 
docino, although no landing appears to have been 
made. But Drake evidently believed that he was the 
true discoverer, and that by his occupation of the coun- 
try, and his treaty with its people, he had in fact, as 
Corbett says, laid here the foundations of a New Eng- 
land in America which was to rival the Spaniards' 
New Spain. 

When the natives realised that their new friends, the 
gods, were actually to leave them their dismay was 
great. They not only lost "on a sudden all mirth, 
ioy, glad countenance, pleasant speeches, agility of 
body, familiar reioycing one with another," but "with 
sighes and sorrowings, with heauy hearts and grieved 
minds, they powred out wofull complaints and moanes, 
with bitter teares and wringing of their hands, torment- 
ing themselues. And as men refusing all comfort, they 
onely accounted themselues as cast-awayes, and those 
whom the gods were about to forsake." 

The Englishmen endeavoured to comfort them with 
assurances, to their entreaties, that after leaving they 
would still be mindful of them; and by encouraging 
responses to their appealing signs expressing the hope 
that in time their visitors would come to them again. 
But these assurances would not satisfy them. They 
must needs attempt another sacrifice. So they "stole" 
one upon the company, and "set it on fire erre we were 
aware, burning therein a chaine and a bunch of feath- 
ers." The company strove by various means to with- 
hold them, but without avail, till, as on the first occa- 



332 The Boy's Drake 

sion, they resorted to prayer. Again they fell to their 
knees, the chaplain prayed, and all joined in the sing- 
ing of psalms. The singing as always before enthralled 
the hearers, who lost in enjoyment of it left their sacri- 
fice unconsumed and suffered the fire to die out. And 
imitating the English in all their actions they too "fell 
a lifting of their eyes and hands to heaven as they saw 
vs do." 

At last on the 23d of July the "Golden Hind" de- 
parted leaving the sorrowful natives massed on the 
strand. "But being loath to leaue vs, they presently 
runne to the top of the hils to keepe vs in sight as long 
as they could, making fires before and behind, and on 
each side of them, burning thereon (as it is to be sup- 
posed) sacrifices at our departure." 



XXV 
ACROSS THE PACIFIC 

OUT from "Drake's Harbor" the "Golden Hind" 
gallantly sped with a north-west wind into the 
trackless sea. Next morning she fell upon a 
group of small islands, and anchoring before one of 
them the ship's boat was sent ashore with a crew to 
reconnoitre. It was found to be a resort of seals and 
sea-birds in great plenty, and a generous supply was 
taken and added to the ship's stock of provisions. 
Drake named this group the "Islands of Saint James." 
They were the Farallones, lying directly west of San 
Francisco Bay. 

While here, or upon the eve of departure the same 
day, Drake put to his council the question of their next 
course, although doubtless that matter had been set- 
tled in his own mind before "New Albion" was left. 
Considering, he told them, that the wind, still blowing 
from the north-west, cut off all hope of finding a pas- 
sage through these northern parts, he thought it were 
better to lose no further time, but run directly for the 
Moluccas and seek their way homeward by the Portu- 
guese route round the Cape of Good Hope. To this 

333 



334 The Boy's Drake 

all gave prompt assent. Accordingly the "Golden 
Hind" turned her prow in that direction, and all set- 
tled down for the long pull across the wide ocean. 

So they continued with nothing in view, after the 
Farallones faded from sight, but "aire and sea," for 
full sixty-eight days. Then on the morning of Sep- 
tember 30 they made their first landfall: a group of 
islands supposed to have been the Pelews which then 
had not received a Spanish or other European name. 
Their exact course to this point is not clear in the nar- 
ratives. It is evident that Drake struck out a direct 
line for himself independent of the Spanish route to 
the Philippines. Young John Drake, in that latter- 
day story of his, makes the statement that they held a 
straight course for the Moluccas but by reason of the 
current which was against them they turned "toward 
China" — that is, the Philippines — a degree and a half 
before crossing the line. Corbett concludes from this 
statement that they ran before the north-east trades 
between the Caroline and the Gilbert Islands till they 
felt the south equatorial drift current, and then turned 
northward. This course, he says, would account for 
their being out of sight of land for sixty-eight days. 

OjfF the Pelews they had rough experience with the 
natives. Upon their arrival throngs came out in a 
fleet of canoes bearing cocoas, fish, potatoes, and fruits 
ostensibly for traffic. The canoes, some carrying four 
men, some six, others fourteen or fifteen, were of curi- 
ous fashion and adornment. They were made from 
trees hollowed with "great art and cunning," and so 



Across the Pacific 335 

smooth both inside and outside that they bore a gloss 
Hke a "harnesse finely burnished/' Their prows and 
sterns were alike in form, semicircular and high, and 
were hung with glistening white shells "for bravery." 
On either side lay out two "peeces of timber" about a 
yard and a half long more or less, according to the ca- 
pacity of the canoe, and at the end of each a "great 
•cane " was fastened crosswise. The object of this con- 
trivance was to keep the canoe from overthrowing and 
to bear it up equally on each side. The natives were 
as novel as their craft. The lobes of their ears 
were cut "circlewise," the ears "hanging downe very 
low vpon their cheekes," and in them were hung 
"things of a reasonable weight." Their teeth were 
black, "as black as pitch," coloured by an herb which 
they chewed [the betel nut], and a "kind of powder" 
which they carried about them in a cane. Their fin- 
ger nails were long, on some of them "at least an inch." 
At their first coming they offered their wares "very 
orderly," while with energetic signs they entreated 
Drake to draw the ship nearer the shore. But their 
manner caused suspicion, and Drake's men felt that 
this invitation might be a trick to "make the easier 
prey of the ship and vs." The Impression of trickery 
was strengthened when the natives withdrew upon the 
refusal of their invitation. When others, however, or 
maybe the first lot with re-enforcements, came in large 
fleets their thievish character was disclosed. With 
"browes of brasse" (mark this modern slang in the 
speech of Englishmen three centuries ago) they would 



336 The Boy's Drake 

receive and hold everything offered them but would 
part with nothing in return. At length Drake drove 
them away. Thereupon they attempted to revenge 
themselves. "Having stones good store in their ca- 
nowes [they] let flie a maine [many] of them against 
vs." No harm happily was done by this fusillade, 
and to scare them Drake ordered one of the big guns 
to be shot off. This had the desired effect, for "at the 
noise thereof they euery one leaped out of his canow 
into the water, and diuing vnder the keele of their 
boates staied them from going any way till our ship 
was gone a good way from them. Then they all lightly 
recouered into their canowes and got them with speed 
toward the shoare." Yet the voyagers were not free of 
these thieving folk. Soon more came out bidding for 
trade, craftier still than the others, putting on a show 
of "decent honestie" and offering to deal fairly. But 
under this pretence they soon "cunningly fell a filch- 
ing of what they could.'* At length it became neces- 
sary to make the boldest of them "feel some smart as 
well as terror." Thus these were roughly driven off. 
The next day the "Golden Hind" had left the place 
astern, Drake naming it at parting, in disgust, the 
"Island of Thieves." 

From the Pelews a run of a fortnight was made in 
the open sea. Then the voyagers came upon "foure 
Hands standing in 7 deg. 5 min. to the Northward of 
the line." These they coasted, and at length an- 
chored and watered "on the biggest of them called 
Mindanao." They were a part of the Philippines. A 



Across the Pacific 337 

day only was spent at Mindanao. The next day they 
passed between two islands "about sixe or eight leagues 
south of Mindanao": presumably the East and West 
Savanganes, Out from these came two canoes that 
"would have talked" with the voyagers, who in turn 
would willingly have received these visitors had not a 
sudden lively wind put the ship from them to the 
southward. Three days later the Tulur Islands, or the 
Talantse group, were passed, and from one of these 
Drake took a native to pilot him to the Moluccas. 
Nine days later, or the 3d of November, they hove in 
sight. 

The arrival at the famous Spice Islands was oppor- 
tune for our English navigator. The sultan of the Mo- 
luccas, Hairum, of the island of Ternate, ten years 
before had been treacherously murdered by Portu- 
guese. His son Baber had avenged his father's death 
by driving the Portuguese from Ternate, and was at 
this time preparing with a brother for a campaign 
against the island of Tidore where the Portuguese had 
taken refuge. He was now said to be sultan of an 
hundred islands and was at the height of his power. 
Drake directed his course toward Tidore, intending 
probably to anchor there and press a trade for spices; 
but while coasting along a small island, Mutyr, as 
Pretty calls it, belonging to Ternate, he was hailed by 
an official coming out in a canoe. This officer was a 
"deputy or viceroy" of the Sultan Baber. At Drake's 
courteous invitation he came aboard the ship and, after 
exchange of salutations and finding the voyagers to be 



338 The Boy's Drake 

English, he explained his mission. It was to entreat 
Drake not to run with Tidore but with Ternate: the 
sultan would be "wondrous glad" of his coming and 
would do for him all that in reason he should require, 
while at Tidore he would find "nothing but deceit and 
treachery." Doubtless he acquainted the captain with 
the state of affairs in the islands, for he warned him 
against the Portuguese at Tidore. So Drake agreed to 
change his course for Ternate, and the viceroy left to 
inform the sultan of his approach. 

This was a wise move, and led to an achievement 
afterward regarded in England as one of the greatest 
of this marvellous voyage; while incidents of the visit 
were the most gorgeous demonstrations of all those 
made by native sovereigns met with during the prog- 
ress of the adventure. 

Ternate was reached early next morning, and the 
"Golden Hind" came to anchor offshore. As soon 
as the anchors were cast Drake sent out the ship's 
boat with a messenger bearing a velvet cloak as a pres- 
ent for the sultan, and a "token that his comming 
was to be in peace," only for traffic. Already the 
viceroy had performed well his part, and the messen- 
ger had gone but half-way when the viceroy was met 
with several other "nobles and councillors" coming 
out in state with a message from the sultan to Drake, 
It appears that the viceroy had inspired his master with 
a great idea. Telling him of the "mighty Prince and 
Kingdome" to which the voyagers belonged, and of 
what good things might be received of them by way of 



Across the Pacific 339 

traffic, he had artfully suggested "what honour and 
benefit It might be to him to be in league and friend- 
ship with so noble and famous a Prince" as they 
served; "and farther what a disarrangement it would 
be to the Portuguese, his enemies, to hear and see it." 
So taken was he with this idea that he had hastened 
his messengers off not only to bid Drake welcome, but 
at once to propose a treaty. For an alliance with Eng- 
land he would give the English a monopoly of Ter- 
nate's rich spice trade. In token of his good-will he 
sent his signet to Drake; and shortly his messengers 
were to say he would come in his own person "with 
his brethren and Nobles," to bring the Englishmen's 
ship into a safer harbour. 

Drake's messenger continued on his mission, and 
while the sultan's representatives were on the "Golden 
Hind" he was at the court. Upon landing he had 
been met by "certaine noble personages" who "with 
great solemnitie" had escorted him into the presence 
of the sultan, who had received him "most friendly and 
graciously." When he had delivered the velvet coat 
and his message, "the king seemed to him to iudge 
himselfe blame-worthy that he had not sooner hasted 
in person to present himselfe to our Generall who came 
so farre and from so great a Prince," for "with all ex- 
pedition he made ready himselfe with the chiefest of 
all his States and Councillors" to repair to the ship 
without further delay. 

Then followed the first demonstration: a water 
procession of king and court in stately canoes. So 



340 The Boy's Drake 

princely was it that it seemed to the voyagers "very 
strange and marvellous." It w^as clear, however, that 
it was not for them alone. Nor was it so much to set 
out the sultan's own royal state "which was great." 
It was particularly to do honour to "her highness to 
whom we belonged" — the queen of England. 

First came three large canoes, each having, extending 
from bow to stern, a canopy of thin and fine mats on 
a frame of reeds. Beneath this canopy the dignitaries 
were assembled according to rank. The noble person- 
ages were all attired in "white Lawne, or cloth of 
Calecut," With the councillors sat divers "young and 
comely men," also attired in white but less elegantly. 
These were fringed on both sides by soldiers standing. 
Outside of the soldiers were the rowers, some four 
score to each canoe, sitting in galleries, three on each 
side, which lay off "some 3 or 4 yards, one being 
orderly builded lower than the other." Each canoe 
carried two musicians sitting in the forefront, the one 
having a "Tabret" (small drum), the other a "piece 
of brasse," and the rowers kept time with their bar- 
baric music, ending each stroke of the oars with a 
song. Each was armed with a small cast piece of 
about a yard in length, while every man, except the 
rowers, had his sword, dagger, and target, and some, 
other weapons as lances, callivers, bows and arrows, 
and darts. 

When these three canoes reached the ship in order, 
they were rowed around her one after the other, their 
occupants as they passed making Drake and his com- 



Across the Pacific 341 

pany assembled upon the deck "a kinde of homage 
with great solemnitie." The greatest personages first 
began "with reuerend countenance and behaviour to 
bow their bodies euen to the ground"; then the others 
followed with similar obeisances. These ceremonies 
over they put Drake's messenger, whom they had 
brought with them, aboard the ship again; and signi- 
fying that their sultan had sent them before him to con- 
duct the ship into a better road, called for a "halser" 
that they might proceed to tow her to the place as- 
signed. 

Then came the sultan in his gorgeous canoe, accom- 
panied by "six graue and ancient fathers." Upon 
reaching the ships they also made a "reuerend kinde 
of obeysance." 

The sultan was seen to be physically of more than 
kingly proportions: a tall man, "very corpulent and 
well set together," while his countenance was "princely 
and gratious." 

Drake responded with a royal salute. The big 
guns thundered, the trumpets blared, the band played. 
The din delighted the sultan, but the music of the 
band enraptured him. He would have the musicians 
brought in the ship's boat to his canoe and play more 
for him; and this request granted, he joined the ca- 
noe to the boat: then, with the boat attached to the 
stern of the ship, he was towed about for a full hour 
"in a musicall paradise." 

Meanwhile the sultan's brother, "named Moro," 
had come out with no less bravery than the others, and 



342 The Boy's Drake 

also accompanied by a "great number of gallant fol- 
lowers." After going through the same performances 
as the first comers they fell astern of the sultan's canoe 
and kept in the string till the ship finally came to an- 
chor in the inner harbour. Then the sultan took his 
leave, promising the next day to come aboard the ship; 
in the meantime he would prepare and send some 
things for traffic. Before his going Drake sent a mes- 
senger to him with more presents which our shrewd 
captain thought might "both requite his courtesie al- 
ready receiued, and worke a farther confirmation of 
that good liking and friendship already begunne." 

That night and the next morning many good things 
were received for trade, as the sultan had promised, 
and the ship's stock of provisions was much enriched 
thereby. These included rice, sugar-canes; "imper- 
fect and liquid" sugar; a fruit which the islanders 
called "Figo," but "no other than that which the 
Spaniards and Portugals had named Plantanes"; co- 
coas; a "kind of meale which they call Sago"; and 
"whereof they make a kind of cake which will keep 
good at least lo years"; and cloves. 

Early on the second day Drake had set all things in 
order properly to receive the sultan's visit aboard the 
ship, and arrayed in his best awaited his majesty's 
coming. But the sultan came not. Instead, appeared 
the brother, Moro, bringing excuses from him. The 
sultan would entreat the general to visit him ashore, 
Moro to remain meanwhile as a "pawne for his safe 
restoring." Drake would willingly have gone had not 



Across the Pacific 343 

the sukan broken his word. Even so he might have 
ventured had not his council objected. The sultan's 
excuses coupled with "certaine words" which Moro 
had let drop in a private conference with Drake in his 
cabin, the purport of which is not given, had bred a 
suspicion in the whole company of the sultan's good 
faith, and they could not assent to the captain's haz- 
arding himself. Thereupon, he declined the invita- 
tion for himself, but would send a number of his gen- 
tlemen to represent him, with a special message from 
himself to the sultan and would retain the viceroy, who 
had accompanied Moro, for their safe return. Ac- 
cordingly this embassy departed in his stead with 
Moro. 

Then followed a land demonstration, this display- 
ing the grandeur of king and court on state occasions. 
Upon landing the Englishmen were with much cere- 
mony conducted to a "large and faire house" adjoin- 
ing the "castle," where were gathered a multitude of 
people, and it was assumed to be their council-house. 
It was a simple structure, merely a frame of reeds, cov- 
ered over with cloth of various colours, the sides open. 
At the side next the castle was the chair of state, 
with a canopy of "cloth of Arras." 

Here the Englishmen were given seats and for full 
half an hour awaited the sultan's appearance. He 
came at last, entering from the castle, with a train of 
eight or ten "graue Senators." A page held over his 
head a rich canopy adorned with "embossings of gold"; 
and he was guarded by twelve "lances the points turned 



344 The Boy*s Drake 

downward." He was sumptuously arrayed and be- 
decked with jewels. From his waist to the ground 
depended a garment "all cloth of gold." His legs 
were bare, but his feet were encased in shoes made of 
cordovan skin, dyed red. On his head were finely 
wreathed rings of gold, "an inch or an inch and a 
halfe in breadth," resembling a crown. About his 
neck was a splendid chain of gold, in great links, and 
one fold double. On his fingers were sparkling rings: 
four on the left hand, a diamond, an emerald, a ruby, 
a "turky" (turquoise); two on the right, one a "big 
and perfect Turky," the other a cluster of small dia- 
monds. 

Gravely he seated himself in the chair of state, 
while at his right side the page took position and be- 
gan fanning with a great handsome fan set with 
sapphires and richly embroidered, for the place was 
steaming hot with the beating sun and the assembled 
multitude. The Englishmen were marshalled in front 
of him, and after exchange of salutations, their spokes- 
man delivered Drake's message. Then the sultan made 
courteous response, and the reception was over. Just 
what this message was, or what the sultan's answer, 
the narrators do not record. It may have related to 
the proposed treaty. The visitors were escorted back 
to the ship as ceremoniously as they had been con- 
ducted hither. During their visit they had cleverly 
looked about them, observing especially the defences 
of the place. They saw only two cannon and these 
unmounted, while the castle did not appear to be a for- 



Across the Pacific 345 

midable affair. It had been originally built and armed 
by the Portuguese. From these observations the Eng- 
lishmen were evidently satisfied that if trouble should 
come Drake could easily hold his own against any 
assault. 

No trouble, however, came. On the contrary, every- 
thing continued peaceful and prosperous through the 
rest of the stay here of two more days. The viceroy 
with others was much aboard the "Golden Hind," and 
it is presumable that some sort of a treaty was con- 
cocted: although no further mention of the negotia- 
tions is made in the narrative. 

Ternate was finally left on the 9th of November. 
Drake's first object now was to find some secluded 
place where the ship could be again overhauled and 
repairs made of some of her furnishings. She was 
again grown foul, while the water-casks had become 
much decayed, and various other things needed tink- 
ering. The calmness of the winds at this season, pre- 
ceding the monsoon, also made this the fittest time for 
the work so necessary to be done. 

After five days' sailing the place was found in a 
small uninhabited island, to the southward of Celebes. 
Here they anchored and began the erection of a tempo- 
rary settlement. As at Cahfornia, they pitched tents 
for their abode and threw up intrenchments for their 
defence; then transferred the ship's precious cargo 
to the fortified camp to be carefully protected while 
she was being cleaned. While here, although they had 
no natives to fear, they might be disturbed by the 



346 The Boy's Drake 

inhabitants of a greater island which lay not far to the 
westward: so these precautions were necessary. A 
smith's forge was also set up for the making of some 
ship-work and for repairing the iron-hooped water- 
casks; their supply of smith's coals having all been 
spent long before, charcoal was made to meet this 
deficiency. 

Twenty-six blissful days were spent in this retreat. 
The perfect climate of the place, with the abundance 
and variety of luscious and wholesome food it afforded, 
was wonderfully refreshing to the "wearied bodies" 
of the company. When they arrived many were sickly, 
weak, and "decayed" from the long confinement to 
the ship, but within a short time under the blessed con- 
ditions of their life here, all had grown again to be 
strong, lusty, and healthful persons. The days and 
nights passed serenely without disturbance of any 
sort. No natives, hostile or friendly, came from the 
feared western island. At night infinite numbers of 
fire-flies sparkled among the trees. Innumerable bats 
were among the feathery inhabitants. There were 
multitudes of "a certaine kind of crayfish," that "lived 
in the land" lodging in great caves which they dug 
"under the roots of the most huge and monstrous 
trees," and of such size that one was sufl&cient to satisfy 
four hungry men at dinner. 

At length the ship was full trimmed and reladen, 
and all their work done to the captain's satisfaction; 
and on the 12th of December they struck camp and 
sailed away from their delectable isle. 



Across the Pacific 347 

Their course thence was first directed toward the 
west, and led early into difficukies. On the i6th they 
had sight of Celebes, the northward of which Drake 
desired to recover so to clear the archipelago. But a 
bad wind was against him. He became entangled 
among many islands, and after a time he was forced to 
shift toward the south. This brought him into one of 
the most intricate of passages, full of dangers by reason 
of the many shoals that lay off among the islands. In 
fact, at no point in all the voyage, from the leaving of 
England, was greater care necessary and greater skill 
required than here in keeping the ship afloat and from 
sticking on these shoals. She got through, however, 
without damage, and on the 9th of January emerged 
into the open sea. The entrance, as Corbett traces it, 
was through the present Greyhound Strait. As the 
voyagers passed out they supposed they had at last 
obtained a clear way. The wind was now "large" 
and following them, as they desired, "with a reasonable 
gale." _ 

So with the spanking breeze they sped on merrily 
under full sail, with light hearts after so long a strain 
of anxiety, when lo! at about eight o'clock that even- 
ing, without a moment's warning and no appearance 
of danger, the brave ship dashed head on upon a "des- 
perate shoale" and was fast laid up against it in peril 
of speedy wreck of all her wealth and all her company. 

In despair all fell prostrate to prayer. Then, that 
they might not seem ''to tempt God by leauing any 
second meanes vnattempted which he afforded," all 



34^ The Boy's Drake 

got to work at various expedients under Drake's ener- 
getic leadership. Desperate, if not hopeless, as he 
knew their case to be, the great captain rose to this 
awful occasion as nobly as in previous crises. While 
he toiled with the rest he bore a confident air and 
cheered all with heartening speech. First the pumps 
were well plied and the ship freed from water. It 
was found that the leaks were "nothing increased," 
which the men accepted as miraculous, for they were 
sure "no strength of wood and iron could have possi- 
bly borne so hard and violent a shock as the ship did, 
dashing herself vnder full saile against the rocks, ex- 
cept the extraordinary hand of God had supported the 
same." Next, efforts were made to find good ground 
and anchor-hold to seaward wherein to "hale," by 
which means only they might clear themselves. Drake 
himself undertook the charge of sounding, but it was 
fruitless. Only a boat's length from the ship he could 
not reach bottom with his longest line. Thus their 
rising hopes were dashed. 

It was clear now that the ship was so fast caught 
that she could not stir, and forebodings began to seize 
upon many of them. If they remained with the ship 
it was only to await a lingering death. If they left her, 
it was to commit themselves in a "most poore and 
helplesse state" to seek refuge in a strange land and 
among "heathen." The ship's stores of food were 
sufficient to sustain the company only a few days. 
They were now fifty-eight in all, and the ship's boat 
could carry about twenty persons in safety. The near- 



Across the Pacific 349 

est land was six leagues from them, and the wind from 
the shore beat directly against them. Should the at- 
tempt be made to set one boat-load ashore and then 
return for others, the first landed would most likely 
fall into the hands of the heathen inhabitants, and "so 
the rest in order." Should they escape the sword, yet 
their lives would be "worse than death," most of all in 
respect to their "Christian liberty," in being deprived 
of all "publique meanes of seruing the true God" 
while "continally grieued with the horrible impieties 
and divellish idolatries of the heathen." 

The rest of the night was passed in dwelling on their 
miseries and in frequent prayer intermixed with other 
"goodly exercises." With the coming of the new day, 
when it was almost full sea, attempts to find an anchor- 
hold were renewed, but proved no more effective than 
the earlier ones. In their extremity it was now "by 
general voice" determined to throw themselves upon 
the mercy of God alone, leaving in His hand to "spill 
or save" them as seemed "best to his gracious wis- 
dom." Accordingly, the chaplain preached a sermon 
to the assembled company and the sacrament was cel- 
ebrated. After this "sweet repast," however, again 
lest they should "seeme guilty in any respect for not 
vsing all lawfull meanes" they could invent, they set 
to work at the last resort: the lightening of the ship. 
So went overboard a lot of valuable stuff which it must 
have wrenched their hearts to let go. Three tons of 
cloves, a quantity of meal and beans, and eight pieces 
of ordnance were tipped into the sea. None of the 



350 The Boy's Drake 

precious ballast of gold and silver, however, was sac- 
rificed, Drake cherishing to the last the hope that 
somehow he must escape. 

Then, at about four in the afternoon, as surprisingly 
as disaster had fallen upon them relief came. While 
the water was almost at lowest the wind, which had 
continued all along directly against the ship's broad- 
side, slackened, and she heeled over and freed her keel. 
The "manner of the delivery" the narrator should de- 
scribe in his own quaint sailor's phrasing unabridged. 

"The place on which she sate so fast was a firme 
rocke in a cleft, whereof it was we stucke on the larbord 
side. At low water there was not above sixe foote 
depth in all on the starbord, within little distance, as 
you haue heard, no bottome to be found: the briz 
[breeze] during the whole time that we thus were stayed 
blew somewhat stifFe directly against our broadside, 
and so perforce kept the ship vpright. It pleased God 
in the beginning of the tyde, while the water was yet 
almost at lowest, to slacke the stifFnesse of the wind; 
and now our ship, who required thirteene foot water 
to make her fleet, and had not at that time on the one 
side aboue seven at most, wanting her prop on the 
other side, which had too long alreadie kept her vp, 
fell a heeling toward deepe water, and by that meanes 
freed her keele and made vs glad men." 

The shoal was "at least three or foure leagues in 
length." Corbett finds it corresponding to the Mula- 
patia Reef, south of the Peling Island and just beyond 
the mouth of the Greyhound Strait. 



Across the Pacific 351 

The day of their dehverance was the loth of January. 
When the crisis was fully past a strange, almost gro- 
tesque, incident occurred of which no mention is made 
in the narratives. The record of it is found only in a 
contemporary memorandum unsigned. It was noth- 
ing more or less than a turning of Drake against the 
chaplain and "excommunicating" him. Assembling 
the company, Drake ordered Fletcher to be tied by a 
leg to a staple driven fast into the hatches in the fore- 
castle. Then himself taking a seat on a chest, and sit- 
ting crossed-legged, with a pair of "pantoffles" (pan- 
tofles, slippers) in his hand, he proceeded to the ex- 
communication in this vigorous fashion: 

''Frances Flecker, I doo heere excomvnicaie the[e] 
out of y' Church of God, and from all the henefites and 
graces thereof, and I denounce the[e] to the divell and 
all his angells." 

"And then," the anonymous recorder says, "he 
charged him vppon payne of death not once to come 
before the mast, for if hee did, he sware hee should be 
hanged; and Drake caused a posy [a motto] to be 
written and bond about Fletcher's arme, which chardge 
that if hee tooke it of[f] he should be then hanged. 
The poes [posy] was, Frances fletcher, y^ falsest knave 
that liveth." 

What the good man had done, of what breach of 
discipline he had been guilty, what unguarded words, 
perhaps, he had uttered in the stress of their great 
peril when the destruction of all seemed inevitable, 
none can now tell. It may have been, as Corbett sug- 



352 The Boy's Drake 

gests, that when their doom appeared imminent, he 
reopened the Doughty matter and laid their wreck to 
the wrath of God at Drake's action. Or the whole 
performance may have been a rough sailor's joke, to 
relieve the tension the company had been under through 
their perilous plight. However, grave or gay as it was, 
the chaplain seems soon to have been restored to favour, 
so to remain through the rest of the voyage. 

Although their peril on the reef was the gravest of 
all the dangers that the voyage had met with since 
leaving England, it was not the last. 

After getting once more into easy water the voyagers 
were tossed among the numerous isles and shoals lying 
about the south part of Celebes, and for some time they 
could find no convenient place for anchoring, to ex- 
amine the ship. On the 12th of January, two days 
after their escape from the reef, unable to bear the sails 
by reason of the tempest, they dropped anchor on a 
shoal. They could remain here, however, only through 
the night. Two days later, when they had pushed a 
little farther south, anchor was again dropped off a 
small island. Here a day was spent in watering and 
wooding the ship; then for nearly a week, with foul 
weather, they were so beaten about among many dan- 
gerous shoals that they became "vtterly weary of this 
coast of Celebes," and Drake determined to work to- 
ward Timor, chief of the lesser Sundanese group. 

Yet before they had cleared the Celebes they barely 
escaped another disaster. This was on the 20th when 
they were forced to run alongside a little island. The 



Across the Pacific 353 

ship's boat had been sent to search out a place where 
they might anchor, and had not gone far when a 
storm coming with great suddenness and fury struck 
them such stinging blows that the loss of both ship and 
boat, or the casting of the latter's crew into the "hands 
of infidels," was feared. Almost as quickly as it came, 
however, the storm abated with no harm to the ship, 
while the boat returned with all hands safe. 

They got off from this place as well as they could 
and continued on their new course for nearly another 
week. Then the wind again took them "very strong," 
and for five days they were obliged to run with bare 
poles. On the 1st of February they neared "ver}'" 
high land, and, as it seemed, well inhabited," and 
tried to bear toward it for succor, but the weather was so 
bad that they could not make a harbour. On the 3d 
they made for a little island that looked inviting, but 
could not fetch it. On the 6th they had better luck, 
when, coming upon a group of five islands, they were 
enabled to anchor off the largest of them. A night 
and a day were spent here and fresh supplies of 
water and wood were taken on. On the 8th as they 
were sailing by this group two canoes were descried 
approaching them. The paddlers came up and in- 
vited them to visit their "town," not far off, named 
Barativa. 

The invitation was accepted, and under the lead of 
the canoes a snug harbour was made. The "town" 
was found most hospitable. The people were "of 
handsome body and comely stature, of civill de- 



354 The Boy's Drake 

meanour, very iust [just] in dealing, and courteous to 
strangers." The men were nearly naked, and had 
"one thing or other hanging from their ears"; the 
women wore a skirt, and many bracelets made for 
the most part of horn or brass, "some nine at least 
vpon each arm." Agreeable as were these kindly 
people, their island was no less pleasing. It was rich 
and fruitful: "rich in gold, silver, copper, tin, sul- 
phur, &c.," and fruitful with nutmegs, ginger, long 
pepper, lemons, cocoas, figs, "sagu" (sago). What 
could be more inviting to the weary voyagers after 
their long tossings about! The people gave them 
cheery entertainment and liberally supplied them, at 
easy barter, with the good stuffs which the island 
afforded. Two days they tarried here "refreshing and 
furnishing" themselves, and when they left the natives 
regretfully bade them farewell. 

They voyaged on for eight days, passing various 
islands, and then came again to anchor under a small 
one. Here, however, they remained only a night and 
part of a day, finding nothing worth their while but a 
supply of wood and "two turtles." Passing on to the 
westward they sailed for a fortnight longer "without 
stay or anything to be taken notice of," till they espied 
land "some part thereof very high," and coming up 
to this island and coasting it for a day they saw a pros- 
perous-appearing town. So they anchored, and the 
next day the ship's boat was sent ashore to venture 
traffic with the natives. These seeming friendly, the 
next morning Drake despatched a delegation with 



Across the Pacific 355 

presents for their king, or chief rajah, who received 
them graciously, and returned the comphment with 
gifts of rice, cocoas, some hens, and "other victuals." 
The island was then found to be Java. 

Presently Drake himself with the gentlemen of the 
company and some others went ashore formally to pay 
his respects to the monarch. He and his train were 
royally received and as royally entertained. He had 
his musicians play for the rajah, which mightily 
pleased him; then showed him the English use of arms, 
by training his party with their pikes and other weap- 
ons. Shortly after the rajah made his return call 
upon Drake with much formality, and with attendants 
bringing more provisions for the ship. Visits from 
other rajahs, under governors or petty kings, the nar- 
rators call them, followed daily. One day three of 
them came aboard, and for their benefit the ship's 
warlike munitions and their uses were shown off. 
Another day a rajah brought a band of native musi- 
cians aboard to display their art. The Englishmen 
good-naturedly pronounced it "though of a very 
strange kind," yet in sound "pleasant and delight- 
ful." Later that day the same rajah had an ox brought 
to the water's side and delivered as a present to Drake, 
who requited the giver with "divers sorts of costly 
silks." All these kingly visitors Drake entertained with 
the "best cheer" the "Golden Hind" afforded, which 
was not inconsiderable. There were frequent banquets, 
and music by the musicians, the latter as entrancing 
to these visitors as it was to the dignitaries of Ternate. 



356 The Boy's Drake 

So friendly were all these natives that Drake decided 
not alone to take on supplies, but to careen the ship 
where she lay, instead of seeking a more secluded 
place for this work. It was high time that it were 
done, for the ship's bottom was so overgrown with a 
"kind of shell fish sticking fast on to her" that her 
sailing was much hindered. When this work was fin- 
ished the voyagers had been here nearly fifteen days. 
They would fain have remained even longer, basking 
in the comforts of the place, had not the kind natives 
informed Drake that not far oflF upon their coast were 
come several Portuguese ships as large as his own, and 
warned him to beware of them. It would have been 
rash indeed to subject the "Golden Hind," with her 
precious cargo now rich in spices along with her bal- 
last of silver and gold, to an encounter with them. So, 
hastening the completion of his stores, on March 26 
farewells were exchanged, and sails were hoisted for 
the last stage of the homeward run. 

The course was now set west-south-west directly 
toward the Cape of Good Hope. For nearly two 
months, or till May 21, they continued "without touch 
of ought but aire and water." Then land was espied, 
" a part of the maine of Africa." They coasted along 
till June 15 when, with fair weather and a friendly 
wind, they passed the cape itself, "so neere in sight 
that we had been able with our pieces to have shot to 
land." It was a "most stately thing" to the narra- 
tor's eyes, and the fairest cape they had seen in the 
"whole circumference of the earth." On July 15 they 



Across the Pacific 357 

fell in with land again "about Rio de Sesto," where 
they saw many negroes in their canoes fishing. July 
22 they were come to Sierra Leone. Here they anch- 
ored and spent two days in watering the ship, and 
feasting on huge "oysters," growing "upon trees of 
one kind," probably snails. 

Thence the run continued prosperously till, on Sep- 
tember 26, 1580, they "safely with ioyful minds and 
thankfull hearts to God, arrived at Plimoth, the place 
of our first setting forth after we had spent 2 yeares, 
10 moneths and some few odde daies beside, in seeing 
the wonders of the Lord in the deep, in discouering 
so many admirable things, in going through with so 
many strange adventures, in escaping out of so many 
dangers, and in overcomming so many difficulties in 
this our encompassing of this neather globe, and pass- 
ing round about the world, which we have related." 

And the first question that Drake asked — of some 
fishermen whom he met as he cautiously sailed into 
Plymouth Sound — was whether the queen were alive 
and well — a matter of pre-eminent importance to him 
now. 



XXVI 
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, KNIGHT 

YES, the queen was alive and sound in health, the 
fishermen answered, God be praised. And how 
fared Plymouth ? A pestilence, sad to say, was 
raging there. With this intelligence Drake anchored 
in the harbour without landing, and prepared a report 
of his arrival to the queen with letters to his other 
partners at court, to be despatched forthwith to London 
by a trusty courier. 

Meanwhile word of the arrival from the marvellous 
voyage had sped quickly over the town, the towns- 
people flocked to the waterfront, and the bells of St. 
Andrew's Church rang out peals of welcome; and sev- 
eral of the company eager for home had landed regard- 
less of the pestilence. First of all Drake's true-hearted 
wife came out to the ship to greet him. Then came 
the mayor of the town with warm official greetings. 

Probably, too, the mayor quietly informed Drake of 
the state of political affairs, and warned him in accord- 
ance with certain orders that had been issued from the 
privy council to officers along the coast to be on the 
lookout for him and should he appear to assist him at 
the moment of his arrival in landing and concealing 

358 



Sir Francis Drake, Knight 359 

his plunder. For news of his amazing operations on 
the Pacific had come to Spain from the viceroys of 
Peru and Mexico, and thence to England, nearly a 
year before, with subsequent tidings of the magnitude 
of his spoil; and while this had brought great joy to 
his titled partners it had roused the Spanish ambassa- 
dor, Don Bernardin de Mendoza, to demands that if 
Drake ever came home he should be punished as a 
pirate and his plunder be turned over to Spain, which 
the queen had been obliged to promise— if it were 
found that he really had done the King of Spain wrong. 
The queen's first desire evidently was to protect this 
treasure should it come safely within her dominion. 
The profits that Drake had attained overshadowed all 
other features of his marvellous exploit in encompass- 
ing the world. 

His report to the queen and the letters to his Lon- 
don friends, presumably Walsingham, Hatton, and 
Leicester, were despatched by his faithful trumpeter, 
Brewer, cleverly chosen for this service perhaps be- 
cause he was Hatton's man in the company. Answers 
were first received from the friends, and these were of 
a disturbing nature. They wrote that the queen was 
displeased with him, for by way of Spain she had 
heard of the "robberies" he had committed, and that 
the Spanish ambassador had declared he would de- 
mand restitution. This was a diplomatic note to be 
read between the lines; and Drake so reading it, at 
once warped out of the harbour and anchored in the 
sound behind an island, probably Drake's or St. Nicho- 



360 The Boy's Drake 

las Island, there to await the queen's orders and to be 
in readiness, probably, if affairs should take a serious 
turn, to run for his old cover in Ireland — Drake's Pool. 

Shortly the queen's answer came. It was a sum- 
mons to court, coupled with the expression of her 
desire that he should bring "some specimens of his 
travels" along with him, and her assurance that he 
had nothing to fear. Her majesty's desire for "speci- 
mens" he shrewdly interpreted largely. So he gath- 
ered together a lot of his most precious jewels and 
loaded several pack-horses with gold and silver, and 
with these, leaving the remainder of his treasure in 
safe-keeping in Plymouth, he journeyed overland to 
London. The queen gave him gracious audience, and 
for six hours the conference lasted. The queen was 
charmed with the dazzling jewels he presented her. 
Doubtless he told his story well, and the queen assured 
him that she would stand by him. Mendoza had pro- 
tested against his reception when he appeared at court, 
and had reminded the queen of her promise: but this 
she deftly parried by politely explaining that she was 
compelled to receive and hear Drake in response to the 
allegations against him. However, while the matter 
was under inquiry she would order the treasure to be 
secured and registered that restitution might be made 
if justice demanded. 

Such order was given and Drake was sent back to 
Plymouth to assist at the registration. The order was 
Issued to Edmund Tremayne, a neighbouring magis- 
trate, and Drake carried a private letter to him from 



Sir Francis Drake, Knight 361 

the queen commending her "beloved subject Francis 
Drake" to his best offices. Tremayne was also sig- 
nificantly instructed not to begin the registration till 
Drake had been left alone with the treasure to take 
what he might for his company; and it is said that of 
the amount he so took he was authorised to keep ten 
thousand pounds' worth for himself, "as a first fruit 
of the queen's favor," and more for his crew. While 
at this time in Plymouth he was given a great reception 
by the mayor and other civic authorities, and the town 
bells again pealed merrily throughout the whole day. 
Early he had paid a pious visit to his native village by 
the Tavy, and had been warmly received by the people 
of Tavistock. 

For some months thereafter, when he was mostly in 
London, Drake's situation remained uncertain. The 
queen withheld the public expression of her approval 
of his unprecedented performance, while the people 
were taking sides for and against him. Merchants en- 
gaged in foreign commerce, particularly those belong- 
ing to the rich company trading to Spain and Portugal, 
apprehensive over Mendoza's threats, were turning 
the "city" — the commercial centre — of London against 
him. Others, in jealousy, set afloat evil reports to 
discredit him, tales of cruel treatment and even muti- 
lation of prisoners captured with his prizes, of his 
overbearing ways as a commander, of his taking the 
law in his own hands, with sinister remarks upon the 
Doughty affair and of the brutality of his method of 
discipline on shipboard: and these defamers gave him 



362 The Boy's Drake 

that sobriquet which his critics of after days strove per- 
manently to attach to him — the "Master Thief of the 
Unknown World." But the people generally made him 
their hero. They swarmed daily in the streets to behold 
him, and "vowed hatred to all that misliked him." 

At last in the spring (158 1) the queen gave unmis- 
takable evidence of her approval of her "beloved sub- 
ject" and a reaction in his favour began about the 
court. First he was again sent back to Plymouth, 
now to bring up the treasure to be deposited in the 
Tower of London. This was done with another and 
larger string of pack-horses, along which he rode: and 
the people were dazzled with the sight of the rich 
procession. Then the "Golden Hind" was brought 
round into the Thames and anchored off Deptford, 
where she was visited by great throngs and marvelled 
at. While the crew were here an inquiry was held 
into the obnoxious charges that had been circulated, 
particularly of Drake's ill-treatment of his prisoners, 
and the whole crew denied them on oath. As to the 
insinuations regarding Drake's harshness toward his 
men, Tremayne had written to the queen of the ex- 
traordinary devotion to him with which his crew were 
inspired. 

He now again became a frequenter of the court. 
Mendoza wrote in one of his despatches that the queen 
"often has him in her cabinet, often indeed [is] walk- 
ing with him in the garden." And we have young 
John Drake's testimony that "sometimes he conversed 
with the queen as often as nine times a day: so that 



Sir Francis Drake, Knight 363 

the people said no one had ever been privileged with 
so much honour." 

On the 4th of April the queen visited the ''Golden 
Hind" in state, and then and there formally received 
Drake into the full light of her favour, and threw down 
the gauntlet to the King of Spain who had demanded 
his head. 

It was a demonstration picturesque as memorable. 
The queen came with a brilliant train. After a splen- 
did banquet at Deptford, finer, wrote Mendoza, than 
had ever been seen in England since the time of Henry 
VHI, she came aboard the ship, and on the deck in 
the presence of a great assemblage she bade Drake 
kneel before her. His head had been demanded and 
now, she said, she had a golden sword to strike it off. 
The captain rose a knight, and was given his arms — a 
ship on a globe, over the globe the motto Auxilio 
divtnoy and underneath the words Sic parvis magna. 

The queen closed the demonstration by commanding 
that the "Golden Hind" be permanently lodged at 
Deptford and preserved as a striking monument to 
Drake's famous exploit and his country's glory. Ac- 
cordingly it was afterward housed in Deptford Dock- 
Yard, and verses in praise of Drake, written in Latin 
by some of the scholars of Westminster School, were 
set up upon the main-mast, i^fter a time it became a 
resort of holiday people, and the cabin was converted 
into a sort of banqueting-hall. 

The plunder, with the exception of a comparatively 
small quantity that had been taken from private owners 
(which was returned through agents but never reached 



364 The Boy's Drake 

the principals' hands), was never restored to Spain. 
It was divided in part among the partners in the en- 
terprise and the state. Just how large it was in 
amount was never exactly known. Tremayne's return 
of what was sent up to the Tower of London, the 
balance remaining after Drake, as authorised to do, 
had helped himself to a large amount for himself and 
crew, and had taken off a quantity of jewels, showed 
a total of nearly five tons of treasure. Another ac- 
count places the silver bullion that was brought into 
the Tower at ten tons, the value of which was four 
hundred and forty-four thousand pounds in present 
English money. Besides the silver there were a few 
ingots of gold. According to another, which purports 
to be a complete account, Drake carried off from the 
coast of Peru a total of about two millions and a half 
pounds in present English money, not counting un- 
registered treasure including jewels. In a division of 
the spoil according to each partner's investment, the 
queen received for her one thousand pounds invested, 
eleven thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds, equal 
to ninety thousand pounds of present money. 

With his new honours Drake's name "became ad- 
mirable in all places," says the contemporary historian. 
Books, pictures, and ballads were published in his hon- 
our; and his opinion and judgment concerning marine 
affairs stood current. 

He is now no longer to be a sea-rover. He steps up 
to the plane of a great military leader, statesman, and 
an admiral of England. 



XXVII 
ADMIRAL 

FOR four years longer Drake remained on shore, 
but not without active and important employ- 
ment. In 1582 he was mayor of Plymouth. 
In 1583 he was a member of a royal commission to 
inquire into the state of the navy. Through 1584 he 
was busied in warlike organisation both for naval and 
land service. In the latter part of this year he was in 
Parliament serving on important committees. This 
year, too, with all his public duties, he was courting 
again, his good wife having died the year before. The 
new sweetheart was a maid of higher degree than the 
Devonshire lass whom he had wooed with sailor-like 
rapidity, yet he made court to her with the same im- 
petuous ardour. She was Mary Sydenham, daughter of 
a knightly house of Somersetshire, yet in her teens. It 
was said to have been a true love match, but opposed 
by Mary's father; and family tradition tells how the 
dashing admiral won his bride by besieging the castle 
at night and carrying her off from her latticed window, 
quite like a Spanish prize. They were married early 
in 1585, and mingling with the wedding bells to the 
bridegroom's ears came tlie sound to arms. 

36s 



366 The Boy's Drake 

For now at last England and Spain were close to 
open war. By 1584 and 1585 Spain was growing more 
openly aggressive. Santa Cruz, Captain-General of 
the Galleys of Spain, was secretly developing what was 
called the "Enterprise of England" — the assembling of 
an armada for the invasion of that country. Mean- 
while in the spring of 1585 a crisis was precipitated by 
an extraordinary act of Spain in suddenly laying an 
embargo on English ships mooring in her ports, seizing 
and imprisoning their crews, and confiscating ships and 
cargoes. The act was aggravated by the fact that 
these vessels were mostly corn-ships which English 
merchants had been induced to send out under special 
orders of protection, a famine threatening through the 
failure of the crops In two Spanish provinces. One of 
the ships, the "Primrose," had escaped and brought 
the news which set all England aflame over the per- 
formance. A retaliatory embargo of Spanish goods 
was proclaimed by Elizabeth, letters of general reprisal 
were issued to English merchants, and Drake was 
ordered immediately to set sail with a fleet to Spain 
and release the arrested vessels. 

The date of the sailing of this fleet, September 14, 
1585, is accepted as the date of the opening of the 
great Elizabethan war; but in fact war was not then, 
or ever, formally declared. The object of the expe- 
dition was far more than the release of the embargoed 
ships. This was to be but an incident along the way. 
Indeed most of the ships had escaped and the embargo 
had been raised before the fleet reached the Spanish 



Admiral 367 

coast. Drake's real objective was again the West 
Indies, the Spanish Main, and the Spanish plate gal- 
leons. His bold plan of campaign included an attack 
upon Santo Domingo, the sacking of Margarita, La 
Hacha, Santa Marta, Cartagena, with the destruction 
of their defences, the seizure of Nombre-de-Dios, a raid 
upon Panama and the coast of Honduras, and finally 
the capture and occupation of Havana with the estab- 
lishment of an English garrison there. All this was 
secretly marked out with the original planning of the 
expedition some months before the order to proceed to 
Spain was given. In fact his commission for the 
organisation and command of the fleet was signed on 
Christmas day, 1584. 

The squadron when at length assembled constituted 
the strongest if not the largest private fleet organised 
in England up to that time. It comprised thirty sail, 
merchant-men and ships from the royal navy, and a 
force, including soldiers and sailors, of twenty-three 
hundred men. The merchant-men, with the "Prim- 
rose" at their head, contributed by London men, 
included some of the finest vessels in the mercantile 
marine, while the war-ships were two of the best in 
the navy. The enterprise was backed by a joint stock 
company, and quite likely several of Drake's former 
partners were of this corporation. The officers sur- 
rounding him constituted a company of men remark- 
able for distinguished sea service or for influential 
family connection. The vice-admiral was Sir Martin 
Frobisher, the great navigator now at the height of 



368 The Boy's Drake 

his fame. The rear-admiral was Francis Knollys, a 
cousin to Queen EHzabeth and Leicester's brother-in- 
law. The lieutenant-general commanding the land 
forces was Christopher Carleill, son-in-law of Walsing- 
ham, an experienced soldier who had come from Ire- 
land where he had been operating a squadron against 
pirates and Irish "rebels." Of Drake's subordinate 
officers were Captain Walter Biggs and Lieutenant 
Cates who kept the record of the expedition, and whose 
narrative Hakluyt gives in his Principall Navigations. 
From this narrative and from the log of the "Prim- 
rose," and various letters, the story of the voyage is 
gleaned. 

Drake as admiral hoisted his flag on the largest of 
the war-ships, the "Elizabeth Bonaventure," six hun- 
dred tons. His flag-captain was Thomas Fenner, 
afterward vice-admiral in the navy. Frobisher placed 
his flag as vice-admiral on the "Primrose." Knollys 
as rear-admiral occupied the "Galleon Leicester." Gen- 
eral Carleill commanded another of the London ves- 
sels, the "Tiger." Drake's youngest brother, Thomas 
Drake, was given command of one of two ships which 
Drake himself contributed, the "Thomas Drake"; 
of the other, the "Francis," our gallant old friend 
Tom Moone was put in charge. Other "Golden 
Hind" men in commands were Captain George For- 
tesque, in the "Bark Bonner," Captain John Martyn 
in the "Bark Benjamin," Captain Edward Careless in 
the "Hope," and Captain Richard Hawkins, Sir John's 
son, in the galiot "Duck." Just before the sailing 







CHRISTOPHER CARLEILL, LIEUT.-GEN. IN DRAKE'S WEST 
INDIES EXPEDITION. 



Admiral 369 

Sir Philip Sidney, slipping away from court, appeared 
at Plymouth and announced himself to Drake as a 
volunteer for the expedition, but the queen called him 
back to London. 

The vacillating queen, shifting her policy with em- 
barrassing suddenness, delayed the fleet's departure. 
All was in readiness in August, and when at last word 
was given on the 14th of September Drake hurried 
the squadron away lest the queen should again change 
her mind. 

There was little or no pretence about the Intent of 
this expedition. It was quite openly a warring advent- 
ure. Drake's commission ostensibly for the release of 
the embargoed ships was apparently well understood, 
as Corbett says, to be merely a "cloak to cover the 
queen If diplomacy demanded it." 

Thirteen days after leaving Plymouth Sound, or 
on the 27th of September, Drake had brought the 
fleet to the Bayona Islands off Vigo Bay, had boldly 
put in here, and had come to anchor, with quite a 
show of arrogant confidence as if to defy the King of 
Spain. Beacons along the coast were blazing a warn- 
ing of his advent, and on shore were seen troops in 
motion. At once Drake gave orders for a demonstra- 
tion against the town of Bayona, and Carleill set out 
with the pinnaces and seven hundred men. On the 
way a boat was met bringing port officers to make the 
customary call upon newly arrived ships, as though 
nothing unusual were happening. Carleill turned 
these officers back and with them sent Captain Samp- 



370 The Boy's Drake 

son, one of his aides-de-camp — officially designated 
"corporal of the field" — bearing Drake's formal de- 
mands upon the governor at Bayona. Captain Samp- 
son delivered the ultimatum with the peremptoriness of 
the soldier. He informed the governor that the fleet 
had been sent by the queen of England to inquire 
about the embargo that had been put upon English 
ships, and the admiral would know whether it meant 
peace or war. If it were to be peace, the governor 
must accede to the reasonable demands of the queen's 
admiral; if it were to be war, he should have it to the 
uttermost. With this the captain withdrew leaving 
the governor to ponder the matter, and to send his 
reply which must be without delay. The answer soon 
came. It was not for him, the governor must say, to 
declare war or peace. As for the embargo, that had 
been by the king's orders: but it had been raised a 
week before and the English merchants were at liberty 
to go and dispose of their cargoes as they pleased. He 
would add that if Sir Francis required fresh provisions 
or desired to water his fleet, he, the governor, was 
ready to pleasure him therewith "as one captain in 
honest courtesy might and ought to do to another, 
their princes being in league together." 

Meanwhile Drake had landed a force of two hundred 
troops upon a small island in the harbour and there 
lay with the boats threatening the town. The gov- 
ernor's answer was unsatisfactory, and Drake sent 
back a request for a personal interview that a formal 
convention might be effected. The boats remained at 



Admiral 371 

the little island till midnight when a storm arose. 
Thereupon the troops were hurriedly re-embarked and 
as they reached the ships the storm became a furious 
gale. The tempest continued through three days, and 
considerably annoyed the fleet. Several of the ships 
were dragged from their anchors; some lost masts; 
some were driven to sea. As the storm was abating 
numbers of boats laden with household and other 
effects were seen putting off from Vigo. This looked 
as if the inhabitants were withdrawing into the interior 
and the governor was preparing for resistance. This 
impression was heightened from the fact that no reply 
had been received from him to Drake's request for an 
interview. Again Carleill was sent out, this time with 
the lighter ships, the **Thomas Drake," the "Francis," 
and the "Duck." His orders were to stand in for 
these fugitives. Several were speedily overhauled; 
others retreating up the river were chased and some of 
these captured. In one boat was loaded the plate and 
vestments of the cathedral, together with its "great 
cross of silver, of very fair embossed work, double gilt 
all over, having cost them a great mass of money." 
These were taken with other plunder, including a rich 
lot of wine and sugar. 

From some of the prisoners it was learned that a 
number of English sailors were being detained ashore. 
Accordingly Captain Sampson was despatched with 
eighty men to release them. The landing party were 
met by some two hundred armed Spaniards and a 
skirmish ensued, with some loss on both sides. The 



372 The Boy's Drake 

English won, and when they returned to the fleet they 
brought with them plunder which the Spaniards after- 
ward declared was valued at thirty thousand ducats. 
Meanwhile Drake had got the fleet together again and 
anchored safely in Vigo harbour. Now the governor 
came to terms and the next day sent out a flag of truce 
to inquire what were Drake's demands. They were 
promptly given — a personal interview, as before, and 
the exchange of hostages for mutual security — and as 
promptly met. The result was a convention, or agree- 
ment, by which the English merchants were to be given 
full liberty for themselves and their goods to dispose of 
as they would, and the fleet were to be supplied with 
whatever they required, on the single condition that the 
plunder should be restored. Whether this condition 
was fully complied with does not appear, but that the 
merchants were relieved and Drake got what he needed 
there is no doubt. Visits were amicably exchanged be- 
tween the shore and the ships, and the work of water- 
ing the fleet went on comfortably, as well as it could 
in the continued rough weather. 

When this work was finished the ships were again 
worked out to the islands and made ready to depart. 
At the last moment difl&culty was encountered in get- 
ting the English hostages back. Suspicion, too, of the 
good faith of the Spaniards was renewed by a report 
that some officials had been heard ashore to say that If 
the fleet could be detained for sixteen days they would 
"wash their hands in English blood." Straightway 
Drake issued orders to Carleill to send ofi^ a detach- 



Admiral 373 

ment once more to threaten Bayona. This was done 
and had the desired eflPect. The hostages were ex- 
changed with no further delay, and nothing more was 
heard about washing in English blood. Shortly after 
orders were given to weigh anchor, and the fleet sped 
away. The business accomplished for which his formal 
commission called, Drake was now on his own re- 
sponsibility. 

His next point of attack was the Cape Verde Islands. 
On the i6th of November he made St. Jago, or Sao 
Thiago, and anchored between the capital town of 
Sao Thiago, or Santiago, and Porta Praya. Santiago, 
at that time a thriving Portuguese settlement, was suc- 
cessfully attacked and occupied on the 17th of Novem- 
ber, the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's coronation, 
and in honour of their mistress and of their victory, the 
troops who had landed fired off some fifty guns of the 
defences which they found already loaded, while Drake 
responded with a succession of salutes from every gun 
in the fleet: so that, as Captain Biggs recorded, "it was 
strange to hear such a thundering noyse last so long 
together.'* 

Drake demanded a ransom of the place, but the 
governor gave no sign of an intention to negotiate. He 
had taken refuge, with the principal inhabitants, in a 
village some twelve miles in the interior. After waiting 
a week Drake's patience was exhausted, and he resolved 
himself to go with a force against this village. Accord- 
ingly he made a rapid night march, and reached it 
before dawn only to find it also abandoned. The 



374 The Boy's Drake 

refugees had evidently gone farther into the interior. 
So he gave the deserted village to the flames and re- 
turned to Santiago. Next Captain Sampson with two 
companies was despatched with Hawkins's galiot and 
two of the pinnaces to Porta Pray a, there to seek for 
hidden treasure which one of the few prisoners taken 
had promised to reveal. Meanwhile all the captured 
guns and the plunder were shipped, and Drake ordered 
Santiago to be set afire, sparing only the hospital; then 
he moved the fleet up to before Porta Praya, Here 
Sampson reported. The prisoner had failed to dis- 
close the hidden treasure and nothing had been secured 
excepting two more guns. It was also here learned 
that one of the boys of the fleet who had straggled be- 
hind the soldiers had been captured and killed and his 
body horribly mutilated by some of the inhabitants. 
In revenge Drake without mercy ordered Porta Praya 
fired like Santiago, and the torch was instantly applied. 

Thus with these towns ablaze or in ashes the fleet 
finally hoisted anchors and now stood away for 
America. 

All went well for a while. But a week later, in mid- 
Atlantic, there suddenly broke out in the fleet a vio- 
lent epidemic. Within a few days two or three hun- 
dred men were dead and more were incapacitated. 
Fortunately the voyage across sea was a speedy one. 
Eighteen days' sailing brought the squadron to the 
island of Dominica. The natives here, the remnant 
of a tribe, were friendly; and in exchange for beads 
and other trinkets which had been taken with the more 



Admiral 375 

valuable plunder at Santiago, they supplied the weak- 
ened crews with an abundance of cassava bread and 
tobacco, the latter in that time held by navigators to be 
a sovereign remedy against all kinds of infection. A 
stay, however, of but a day was made off this island, 
only long enough to water the fleet. Then they passed 
on to St. Christopher, Drake proposing here to land 
for the recuperation of the company and for the neces- 
sary work of cleaning and disinfecting the foul ships. 
The landing was made on Christmas day; and as 
soon as the work on the ships was well started, and the 
health of the company was improving, Drake called his 
officers to a council of war and laid before them his 
plan of operations in these waters. His intention, he 
now revealed, was first to proceed direct to Hispaniola 
and attack Santo Domingo. This he would do at once, 
before the strength of their forces had further "de- 
cayed." It was a bold proposal, for Santo Domingo as 
the seat of government was reputed to be the most 
strongly fortified of all the Spanish-American cities, 
while the fighting forces of the fleet were already re- 
duced. But the very boldness of the proposition fas- 
cinated these adventurous spirits. They were especially 
allured to it by the fame of Santo Domingo, the oldest 
and proudest city of Philip's colonial empire, renowned, 
too, for great wealth, the subjugation and humbling 
of which would be a glorious achievement for English- 
men and a hard blow at Spain. So all gave their en- 
dorsement to the plan with enthusiasm. Then the 
admiral outlined his scheme of attack. He would send 



376 The Boy's Drake 

out an advance squadron to reconnoitre the city, and 
if possible to get into communication with the native 
half-breeds who here, like the Cimaroons of the Span- 
ish Main, occupied the highlands of the interior. He 
would follow up with the main fleet, which he would 
bring before the city, and the assault would be made, 
if circumstances favoured, with a simultaneous attack 
by land and water. 

The advance squadron duly set out, under Fro- 
bisher's command, that day or soon after. On the way 
a Spanish frigate was met and taken, and from her 
pilot, a Greek, valuable information about the harbour 
and protection of the city was obtained. He told how 
the port was commanded by a strong castle well fur- 
nished with artillery, with no convenient landing-place, 
so dangerous was the surf along the adjacent coast, 
except under the citadel's guns; but he knew of one 
some ten English miles to the westward of the city, and 
he would conduct them to it. At length they came to 
the harbour entrance, and for three days the squadron 
worried the garrison at the citadel by feints of land- 
ings, while the reconnoitring with their small boats 
was secretly going on. More was learned about the 
westward landing-place and a meeting with the half- 
breeds was effected. In due time Drake arrived with 
the main fleet and heard Frobisher's report. Then 
with a supporting force Drake himself secretly sought 
the western landing-place and examined it. It was 
found to be commanded by watch-houses in which a 
picket was stationed, but only at night. Arrangements 



Admiral 377 

were made with the half-breeds to waylay the picket 
that night. When darkness fell the fleet's whole force 
of troops embarked in the small craft, and Drake, tak- 
ing the leadership, piloted the flotilla through the surf 
to this place. Upon their arrival the half-breeds grimly 
reported the picket "despatched.'* By dawn the land- 
ing had been successfully accomplished, and so quietly 
that not a word of alarm had got abroad. Then "be- 
queathing" the troops "to God and the good conduct 
of Master Carleill our Lieutenant-general," Drake left 
them and returned to the fleet. 

Having regained his flag-ship he brought the fleet 
forward toward the city, and came to anchor directly 
opposite the main landing-place that lay under the 
protecting walls of the castle, and on the same side of 
the town upon which Carleill was to advance. As 
the ships took their stations their guns were run out 
and a bombardment begun. At the same time boats 
were lowered as though under cover of the bombard- 
ment Drake meant to force a landing. It was only a 
feint to hold the attention of the castle and the city's 
troops while Carleill with his little army was stealing 
up for his attack. And this attention it fully engaged. 
Soon horse, foot, and artillery were advancing out of 
the city through two gates nearest the shore, with the 
apparent intention of taking up a position facing the 
water to oppose a landing. They formed with cavalry 
covering the right flank. Suddenly the rattle of drums 
and the blare of trumpets sounded on their right rear. 
Carleill was upon them. With standards flying, his 



378 The Boy's Drake 

thousand men were advancing at a rapid gait in two 
columns, to cut them off from the city. The surprise 
was startHng. Yet, caught as they were in a trap, the 
Spaniards were by no means demoraHsed. Instantly 
they took up a new position covering the two gates, 
and the cavalry made a gallant attempt upon Carleill's 
flank and rear. So well, however, had Carleill dis- 
posed his pikes and musketeers on every side that they 
could not break in and were shortly forced to fall back. 
The English in their two columns pressed upon the 
Spanish artillery, their aim being to enter both gates 
at the same time and ultimately to come together in 
the plaza, or market-place of the city. Both columns 
received the artillery's fire at close quarters. Several 
men in both fell. One went down by Carleill's side. 
With shouts of encouragement Carleill increased the 
pace of marching to get on before the artillerists could 
reload their guns. By the wayside was an ambuscade 
of Spanish troops with small-arms. The English broke 
through at a run, with the "push of the pike." So 
pell-mell they entered the gates while the broken de- 
fence scattered, "every man to save himself by flight." 
On the invaders rushed till they brought up at the 
plaza, their goal. Now the great St. George's ensign 
was hauled to the top of a tower proclaiming their 
success. As it unfurled itself, all the ships of the fleet, 
which had ceased firing when Carleill's men were fight- 
ing at the gates for fear of injuring them, broke out 
again, saluting the signal of victory with triumphant 
broadsides. Meanwhile the defenders of the gates were 



Admiral 379 

fleeing, many of them in boats across the harbour and 
out into the country beyond. 

The invaders secured their position on the plaza 
with barricades. Still the occupation of the city was 
not complete, for the castle remained in the Spaniards' 
hands. Accordingly preparations were made to at- 
tack it that night. But shortly before midnight, hear- 
ing the invaders busy about the gates, the garrison 
quietly evacuated the place, and followed their com- 
rades in boats to the other side of the haven. It was 
New- Year's day and the English facetiously accepted 
the city as a New- Year's gift from the Spaniards. 

With the evacuation there fell into Drake's hands 
besides the city all the considerable shipping in the 
harbour except a few vessels which the Spaniards sunk 
at the harbour's mouth. The prizes included a gal- 
ley-royal—the flag-galley of the station — and a large 
French-built ship said to have been the finest at that 
time in the Indies. After the departure of the garri- 
son the area of occupation in the city was extended and 
protected with a circle of barricades and intrenchments 
armed with the captured guns. And this work com- 
pleted, the ransacking of the city for plunder began. 
Great was the disappointment of the searchers at the 
result. They found, indeed, quantities of rich wines, 
sweet-oil, olives, fine woollens, linens, silks, and "good 
store of brave apparel" to which the soldiers particu- 
larly helped themselves; but comparatively little plate, 
and no hoard of precious metals of which great tales 
had been told. While the "household garniture" of 



380 The Boy's Drake 

the weakhler citizens was "very gallant and rich" their 
tableware in this hot country instead of plate and ves- 
sels of silver was porcelain and glass, all elegant, to 
be sure, but not valuable to the invaders as loot. The 
absence of precious metals was due to the fact that the 
mines were no longer worked, labour being unprocur- 
able since the Spanish policy of merciless use of them 
had already almost exterminated the Indians, Con- 
siderable amounts of money, however, were gathered, 
with plate, pearls, and jewels, found hidden in wells 
and other places. Their Protestant zeal led the in- 
vaders to wanton destruction of all the fairest work 
in the churches and the burning of all their "images 
of wood." 

Drake demanded a heavy ransom for the city, and 
the negotiations thereupon were long and halting. At 
the outset the negotiations were interrupted by a cruel 
act of a Spanish officer and as cruel a retaliation of 
Drake in which innocent lives were sacrificed. It 
chanced, as Biggs relates, that Drake sent out his 
negro servant boy with a flag of truce, or, as another 
account has it, the officer advanced to the English 
guard with such a flag and Drake sent the boy as his 
messenger to ascertain the bearer's business. Which- 
ever bore the flag, the two met, and the officer "without 
all order or reason" furiously ran the boy through the 
body with his lance and galloped back. He was one 
of the officers of the galley-royal which Drake had 
taken in the harbour, and probably resented such a 
messenger as an insult. The poor lad managed to 



Admiral 381 

crawl back to Drake, tell his story, and expire at the 
admiral's feet. At this outrage Drake, ever kind to 
negroes as we have seen, became "greatly passioned" 
and his requital was swift and awful. Among his 
prisoners were some friars. Two of these he com- 
manded the provost-marshal to conduct under guard to 
the place where the boy was assassinated and there 
forthwith hang them; and at the same time he de- 
spatched another prisoner to convey to the city authori- 
ties the reason for this double execution, and to tell 
them from him that until the murderer of his messenger 
was delivered into his hands to receive condign punish- 
ment, two prisoners would daily be similarly hanged 
till all the captives in his hands should be "consumed." 
The next day, before two more innocent victims could 
be told off, the captain of the galley-royal brought the 
offender to the town's end, to deliver him up as de- 
manded. But Drake, to make his vengeance most 
drastic, instead of taking him and executing him him- 
self, demanded that the Spaniards should hang him in 
sight of the fleet and the town, "which," says Biggs, 
laconically closing this chapter, "was done accordingly." 
The city authorities declared that they were unable 
to pay so great a ransom as Drake would have, and 
would compromise. After the negotiations had dragged 
for some time Drake set about to force a settlement. 
Two hundred sailors and as many soldiers to guard 
them were assigned to burn the city outside the English 
lines of occupation. This was to be done piecemeal. 
For several successive days from daybreak till nine 



382 The Boy's Drake 

o'clock in the forenoon when the heat began, these 
firing parties diligently pursued their work of destruc- 
tion. But so well was the city built, with substantial 
houses of stone and high lofts, that toil as they might 
they had consumed in this time not a third part of it. 
So in the end, wearied with this slow firing, and now 
anxious to get away, Drake accepted a compromise, 
taking twenty-five thousand ducats, equal to fifty thou- 
sand modern English pounds, in full for all demands. 

With this payment the force were all re-embarked 
speedily, and on the ist of February, just a month 
after the first attack, Drake sailed out of Santo Do- 
mingo harbour for his next exploit. In the holds of the 
ships were packed two hundred and forty captured 
guns; quantities of rich merchandise; full supplies of 
excellent provisions filched from Spanish stores. Their 
forces were recruited with scores of liberated galley- 
slaves of various nationalities. And added to the fleet 
were the best of the Spanish prizes, while all the rest 
of the shipping seized, including the galley-royal, was 
destroyed. 

The next place for attack in Drake's programme — 
the island of Margarita — could not be reached because 
of tempestuous weather and contrary winds. Rio de 
la Hacha was also passed by, the admiral apparently 
having determined to make at once for Cartagena. 
Frobisher was sent ahead to work close in along the 
coast, on the lookout for some pilots whom he might 
pick up with Spanish prizes; but he found no prizes 
and consequently no pilots, and Drake was obliged 



Admiral 383 

to rely upon his own knowledge of the passage. This 
he did successfully, and without mishap the fleet ar- 
rived off Cartagena on the 9th of February. 

Cartagena, unlike Santo Domingo, was prepared for 
his coming. The city had had three weeks' notice of 
his presence on the coast, and had learned, too, all 
about his performance at Santo Domingo. Accord- 
ingly it had been put in a state of defence and so thor- 
oughly that Drake might well have decided that it was 
impregnable and decHned the fight. But it was not 
in his nature so to act. The greater the obstacles in 
his path the stronger his determination to pursue that 
path. He had come to subdue this city, and this he 
would do or attempt at any or all hazards, regardless 
of its preparedness against him. 

Cartagena by her position, as Drake had found 
when here before, was naturally well protected. Now 
the narrow channel from the outer harbour to the inner 
harbour, close to the main-land, was barred by a chain. 
On the main-land had been set up a fort commanding 
both the narrow stone causeway that gave access to 
the city therefrom and the entrance from the outer 
harbour by the Boca Grande, or Great Mouth. On the 
piece of land lying between the Great Mouth and the 
city walls an intrenchment had been thrown up, the 
banks protected by poisoned stakes. In the inner har- 
bour to defend these earthworks were stationed two 
armed galleys. The city's garrison comprised, as enu- 
merated by Corbett, a force of fifty lancers, four hun- 
dred and fifty harquebusiers, one hundred pikemen, 



384 The Boy's Drake 

twenty negro musketeers, and four hundred Indian 
bowmen; besides these there were one hundred and 
fifty harquebusiers serving in the two galleys attached 
to the port as guard ships under Don Pedro Vique 
Manrique, general of the coast of the Spanish Main. 

Drake upon the afternoon of his arrival daringly 
sailed his fleet past the city and the Great Mouth so 
close as to draw the fire of the batteries. Having fully 
taken in the position of affairs he had determined his 
line of attack, and his manoeuvres soon astonished the 
Spanish on-lookers. They saw him with consummate 
skill and nerve piloting the whole fleet through the 
perilous southern entrance, the Little Mouth, at the 
far end of the outer harbour, then working back till 
he had come off the inner end of the Great Mouth, 
and finally coming to anchor about a mile from the 
main entrance of the inner harbour. In taking this 
position it looked as though his purpose was to attempt 
to force the inner harbour defences by a direct attack. 
But this was a move calculated to deceive the city's 
defenders, as it did. And so was the next move — the 
detachment of Frobisher apparently to prepare for a 
demonstration against the harbour fort with a flotilla. 

This was the situation at nightfall. After dark the 
real operations were begun. Then Carleill with his 
full complement of troops was secretly landed in the 
Great Mouth, under cover of woods that spread over 
the land between the fleet and the city. His orders 
were to push diagonally through the woods to the 
shore, and there, instead of advancing on the front 



Admiral 385 

of the intrench ment, to wade along the "sea-wash" — 
the wash of the surf — till close enough for a rush on 
the city. In tramping through the woods in the dark 
much time was lost by reason of the ''slender knowl- 
edge" of the guide, possibly one of Drake's men with 
him in his former cruising about the place. When the 
stealthily moving force were within two miles of the 
city they suddenly encountered a cavalry picket of 
some two hundred horsemen. Shots were exchanged, 
and after the first volley of the invaders the horsemen 
galloped off townward : not because they were routed, 
but because the "place being woody and bushy even 
to the water's side" it was impossible for their horses 
to make into it. Immediately upon the withdrawal of 
the picket the invaders heard the sound of the guns 
of Frobisher's flotilla engaging the fort. Presumably 
Frobisher had taken the sound of their exchange of 
shots with the picket as his signal to develop his feint. 
Soon now the shore was reached and the wading in 
the sea-wash begun. Undiscovered they reached the 
point desired, "within striking distance," and Carleill 
halted all in the water to form for the attack. 

Captain Sampson with the pikemen and Captain 
Goring with the musketeers were given the front of 
the line; Sergeant-Major Powell with the "main- 
battle" of four companies was placed next the van- 
guard; Captain Morgan with a single company was 
assigned the rear. Thus the advance was cautiously 
made. It was found that the intrenchment did not 
extend quite down to the sea, space being left at its 



386 The Boy's Drake 

end by which the picket had regained the city; but 
this space was closed up with large wine butts or pipes, 
filled with earth, and piled one on top of another and 
extending into the water. Here, out of reach of the 
guns of the intrenchment and of the galleys, Carleill 
determined to make the rush. When all was in readi- 
ness he sounded his signal to assault. Goring's mus- 
keteers ran forward and delivered a volley into the 
front of the surprised garrison; Sampson's pikemen 
dashing through their ranks came to "push of pike"; 
the main body pressed close after the pikemen with 
huzzas. "Down went the buts of earth," says the 
soldier narrator Biggs, "and pellmell came our swordes 
and pikes together, after our shot had first given their 
volley, even at the enemy's nose. Our pikes were 
somewhat larger than theirs, and our bodies better 
armed [with armour], for very few of them were armed : 
with which advantage our swordes and pikes grew too 
hard for them, and they driven to give place." Thus 
the invaders got inside. In their "furious entry the 
Lieutenant generall slew with his owne hands the 
chiefe Ensigne bearer of the Spaniards who fought very 
manfully to his lives end." Here the gallant Sampson 
was wounded by a sword's blow. Goring, also hurt by 
a sword, disabled his assailant and took him prisoner. 
As at Santo Domingo, upon carrying the gates the in- 
vaders gave their opponents no leisure for breath, but 
drove them till the plaza was won. Yet the Spaniards 
made a courageous resistance, with repeated stands and 
hand-to-hand struggles, before the place was attained. 



Admiral 387 

Once seized, however, and fully occupied, the defeated 
troops broke, and evacuated the city; and hastening 
across the causev^ay, made for the hills of the country 
beyond where, at Drake's appearance before the city, 
the women and children had been sent for safety. 
Still the fort held out. But the next morning, when 
Drake moved the fleet farther inside and their guns 
were run out for a bombardment, the fort, too, was 
evacuated, and without a shot. 

So the capital of the Spanish Main, despite its elab- 
orate provisions for defence and the unquestioned 
bravery of its defenders, fell into Drake's hands at 
practically a single stroke. Jt was counted, as it was, 
a famous victory; and the cleverness of the plan of 
attack, outwitting the experienced Spanish officers com- 
manding the defence, brought Drake recognition as a 
military genius. 

The city, too, was deemed the richest of his prizes. 
For, although smaller than Santo Domingo and less 
renowned, it was from its strategical position of greater 
importance and had greater wealth, Santo Domingo 
had lost its commercial pre-eminence while Cartagena 
had become the trade centre; the former city was now 
inhabited mainly by officials, "lawyers, and brave gen- 
tlemen," while the latter had "farre more richer mer- 
chants." Accordingly Drake must have from this city 
the heavier ransom. His demand was a hundred thou- 
sand pounds. The authorities naturally demurred. 
Drake was firm, but was ready to give them reason- 
able time to arrange the matter. Meanwhile unwonted 



388 The Boy's Drake 

courtesies passed between the invaders and the invaded. 
There were feastings; visits to the admiral by the 
governor of the city, the bishop, and ** divers other 
gentlemen of the better sort"; and pleasant entertain- 
ments ashore. When, however, the reasonable time 
had expired and settlement was apparently no nearer 
Drake gave the city to the sack, and repeated his tactics 
at Santo Domingo — the burning of the city by piecemeal, 
"It was touched in the out parts," Biggs tells us, "and 
consumed much with fire." The shipping found in 
the harbour, too, was all destroyed. 

Still the authorities failed to come to terms. When 
a month had gone by Drake called a council of war to 
consider the situation. Besides the matter of the ran- 
som the condition of the fleet's force was becoming a 
cause of anxiety. In addition to the losses sustained 
in the fierce assault, and the temporary incapacity of 
a number of the men from wounds, not a few were 
down with sickness. Several of Drake's best officers, 
too, were gone. Among these was Tom Moone. The 
brave fellow had at last succumbed, caught in an am- 
bush and mortally wounded by Spanish musketeers. 
It happened in this wise. One day the English sen- 
tinel stationed in the church steeple sighted two frig- 
ates at sea making for the harbour, and Moone and 
others put out in a pinnace to head off" and capture 
them. They ran themselves ashore. The pinnace 
following was drawn into the ambush and Moone met 
his fate. 

Three propositions were put before the council: the 



Admiral 389 

first, to hold the city against the present enemy and 
re-enforcements that might arrive in ships from Spain, 
and make it a base of further operations; second, to 
continue further trial of their fortunes according to the 
original plan; third, to accept a smaller ransom for 
Cartagena, and "so presently homeward." 

These propositions were considered by the military 
officers in one group and by the sea captains in another. 
The military officers, notwithstanding their weakened 
force, were ready to hold the city against all comers if 
the sea captains could with the strength that remained 
to man the ships undertake their safety and service 
should a Spanish fleet come upon them. The sea 
captains' reply is not recorded, but probably their 
attitude was as recklessly brave as that of the military 
men. However, it was finally determined to accept a 
smaller ransom, which they concluded could be done 
with honour, inasmuch as they had " taken full pleasure 
both in the uttermost sacking and spoyling of all " the 
"'householde goods and merchandize" of the Carta- 
genians, and in burning or ruining a good part of 
their town. 

The ransom as now agreed upon was one hundred 
and ten thousand ducats, equal to about a quarter of 
a million of English money. Upon its payment the 
soldiers were withdrawn from the city and a part 
quartered upon the monastery standing upon the har- 
bour water-side. For this, being outside the city, 
Drake demanded an additional ransom of a thousand 
crowns. The sum was paid. A ransom of another 



390 The Boy's Drake 

thousand crowns was requested for the harbour fort. 
This was refused. Thereupon the fort was under- 
mined and "blowen up in pieces." Meanwhile the 
fleet had drawn toward the harbour mouth where men 
were employed in taking on fresh water; and on the 
last day of March they put to sea, now homeward 
bound. 

That they were obliged to abandon the rest of the 
original programme, particularly the enterprise against 
Nombre-de-Dios and thence to Panama, where they 
"should have strooken the stroke for the treasure and 
full recompence" for their "tedious travails," was 
keenly regretted by the admiral's council; yet much 
had been accomplished to fill them with satisfaction 
and pride. Besides having administered another sting- 
ing blow to Spain at the fountain-head of her supplies, 
and having taken another fat purse of ransom money, 
the ships of the fleet and the prizes were carrying off" 
sixty more captured guns, all the bells and metal of 
Cartagena, quantities of rich merchandise taken from 
Spanish warehouses, choice furnishings from the houses 
of wealthy merchants, and other spoil; while to the 
force were added, as at Santo Domingo, a motley crew 
of liberated galley-slaves — "Turks, Greeks, Negroes, 
Frenchmen," and even Spaniards. And their advent- 
ures were not yet ended, for on the way home it was 
understood that they might manoeuvre off" Havana 
and would come along the Florida coast. 

All went prosperously till they were two or three 
days out from Cartagena, when the finest of the prizes 



Admiral 391 

— the substantial ship taken at Santo Domingo and 
facetiously renamed the "New- Year's Gift" — now 
laden with ordnance and other heavy spoil, was found 
to have sprung a serious leak. The following night 
she fell behind; in the morning when she was found 
to be missing Drake put the whole squadron about in 
search of her. She was found after a while, but in a 
sinking condition; therefore she was taken in tow and 
the fleet returned to Cartagena. Great was the con- 
sternation in the city when the squadron were seen 
again bearing toward the port. Upon their arrival, 
however, Drake at once made it clear to the authori- 
ties that he had no hostile intentions in thus returning. 
He assured them that he would not further molest the 
city; all he wanted was opportunity to shift the cargo 
of the sinking ship to his other vessels, and to have 
some baking done. If the authorities would allow him 
the free use of the city's ovens to bake biscuit he would 
promise them that none but bakers should land. The 
privilege was granted, and, we are told, under the 
protection of the authorities the biscuit-baking went 
on merrily night and day through the eight or ten 
days of this second stay. 

Again off, and now for good, the course was set 
directly toward "Cape S. Antony [Cape San Antonio] 
being the Westermost port of Cuba." Cape San An- 
tonio was reached on the 27th of April. Here the fleet 
stopped for fresh water, since the supply taken on at 
Cartagena was wellnigh exhausted. But little was 
found at this place, so the anchors were hoisted and 



392 The Boy's Drake 

they made for Matanzas, some seventy miles to the 
eastward of Havana. Through lack of favouring winds 
they did not reach this port, and after some fourteen 
days* sailing were driven back to Cape San Antonio. 
A Spanish account says that they ''looked into Ha- 
vana," but this Corbett questions: he suggests that 
during this time they may have been after a rich 
Spanish treasure-ship, but missed her. To one such 
chase Drake alludes in a letter to Burghley after his 
return. Back at Cape San Antonio, this time newly 
fallen rain water was obtained by "making pits in a 
plot of marsh land"; and Drake worked cheerily with 
the rest at this business which occupied three days. 
Cape San Antonio was left finally on May 13th, and 
the fleet now held away for Florida. 

Florida attained, they coasted along the shore till 
May 28th, when early in the morning they descried 
on a river's bank a "place built like a Beacon 
for men to discover to the seaward." This sight was 
animating, for it indicated a Spanish settlement. At 
once the pinnaces were manned and Drake set off 
with a prospecting party of officers and soldiers, to 
"see what place the enemies held there," for none of 
them "had any knowledge thereof at all." Upon 
landing they marched up the river's side a mile or so, 
and then saw on the opposite side a newly built fort, 
and about another mile above the fort a little walled-in 
town or village of wooden houses. This was St. 
Augustine, begun by the Spaniards twenty-one years 
before under Menendez de Aviles after his ruthless 



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Admiral 393 

massacre of Rene de Laudonniere's French Huguenot 
colony on St. John's River. 

They must have a shot or tvv^o at this fort to discover 
its nature and strength. So a piece v^as brought up 
and planted a little before evening. Carleill aimed the 
first shot, and this struck a Spanish ensign. A second 
struck the foot of the fort's massive timber w^alls. 
These shots elicited no response. Therefore Carleill 
proposed after nightfall to cross the river v^ith four 
companies and intrench this force so near to the fort 
that he might play w^ith his muskets upon any Spaniards 
w^ho should appear; afterward he would have the ord- 
nance brought up to batter it. But a sufficient number 
of sailors could not be detached to make the trenches 
at such short notice. Accordingly he was obliged to 
postpone this move for the following night, and in- 
stead of it he would make a reconnoissance to espy 
what sort of a garrison the fort had. This little expe- 
dition was covertly made with a small boat and a few 
chosen men, among them Captains Sampson and Mor- 
gan. Although the rowers plied their oars as quietly 
as they possibly could, the party were discovered as 
they neared the fort and fired upon. There was noth- 
ing for them to do but return to the fleet, their object 
defeated. 

Presently, after their return, the guard of the flag- 
ship discerned through the darkness a small boat 
approaching with a single occupant; and as it ap- 
proached the solitary passenger was heard playing on 
a fife "the tune of the Prince of Orenge, his song": a 



394 The Boy's Drake 

favourite English air. This was taken as the signal 
of a friend, and when the guard challenged the boat- 
man it so appeared. He was a Frenchman, he an- 
swered, who had been a prisoner at the fort and had 
taken the opportunity of the confusion created by 
their appearance among the garrison to escape. He 
told how the garrison had fired upon Carleill's party 
supposing that the whole force of the stranger fleet 
were approaching to an assault, and how immediately 
after firing the guns they had evacuated the fort and 
hastened off to St. Augustine. He off'ered to remain 
in the Englishmen's hands, or to return to the fort 
with any that would. 

Upon this intelligence Drake determined to seize the 
stronghold that very night. Accordingly he set out 
at once with a flotilla for this purpose. He himself 
took the first boat with Carleill and some of the cap- 
tains; Frobisher with other captains was in the 
second; and soldiers filled two or three pinnaces. The 
other pinnaces were to follow. As the fort was ap- 
proached this party received the same greeting that 
Carleill's had met, which demonstrated that the place 
was not altogether abandoned. It was afterward 
learned that a few of the garrison "bolder than the 
rest" had tarried behind their companions, and these 
fired the shots: then they also fled. Undaunted by the 
firing Drake's party kept on, and ashore they went and 
straight to the fort. Not a man was found, but every 
evidence of a hasty departure. When daylight ap- 
peared the place was examined. On the platform of 



Admiral 395 

the unfinished fort which was constructed of "whole 
bodies of long pine trees laid across one another" with 
some earth between, were thirteen or fourteen great 
brass guns. And near by lay a chest "unbroken up," 
which when opened was found to contain Spanish 
money to the value of some two thousand English 
pounds. This was a pay-chest, the money intended 
for payment of the wages of the garrison, which com- 
prised some one hundred and fifty men. Preparations 
were made for the transfer of the guns and the pay- 
chest to the fleet; and then Drake proposed immediately 
to march upon the town beyond. He was the more 
impatient to do so upon hearing from the Frenchman 
that its governor was Menendez who he understood was 
a relative of the treacherous viceroy of New Spain in 
that old aff'air of San Juan d'Ulloa with Hawkins. But 
the streams and broken land between the two places 
made a march impracticable, and it was necessary to 
re-embark and make the advance by the main river. 

Just outside the town some Spaniards suddenly 
showed themselves, bestowed a few shots upon the 
invaders, and then as suddenly withdrew. One of 
them in his hurry left behind a horse ready saddled 
and bridled, and this the sergeant-major, Powell, 
mounted to follow the chase. But shortly after and 
when considerably in advance of the main force, he was 
shot through the head by a Spaniard from behind a 
bush; and before he could be reached and rescued two 
others springing from the bush had stabbed his body 
in several places with swords and daggers. His death 



396 The Boy's Drake 

was much lamented: for, as his fellow-soldier the 
narrator records, he was **in very deede an honest 
wise Gentleman, a soldier of good experience, and of 
as great courage as any man might be." 

St. Augustine, at length entered, was found to be 
abandoned like the fort. At that time it was described 
as prosperous-looking, with a council-house, a church, 
and wooden dwellings, with gardens "all round them." 
Straightway the invaders sacked it, set it afire, and laid 
the whole place waste. 

Before leaving St. Augustine it was resolved "in full 
assembly of the captains" next to undertake the "en- 
terprise of St. Helena," in other words, the destruction 
of another Spanish settlement twelve leagues farther 
up the coast; but they were unable to carry out this 
plan for lack of a pilot to direct them through the 
intricate shoals. So, having done all the harm he 
could to the Spanish possessions on the Florida shore, 
Drake now proceeded to search for Sir Walter Raleigh's 
Virginia colony sent out the year before, which he had 
promised Queen Elizabeth to find and afford relief if 
needed. 

The colony were discovered on the 9th of June, by 
the smoke of a great fire rising from the shore. A 
boat sent in met a few of the colonists on the strand. 
These were brought to the flag-ship, and, after joyous 
greetings, piloted the fleet to the colony's port. The 
ships of larger draught being unable to enter, the 
squadron anchored in a "wilde roade" two miles off- 
shore. Meanwhile Drake had written and despatched 



Admiral 397 

a letter of greeting to Ralph Lane, the governor of the 
colony, then at his fort on Roanoke Island, with an 
expression of the pleasure it would give him to supply 
from his own stores the colony's needs, something of 
which the first comers had told him. Governor Lane 
responded in person, coming on board the flag-ship 
with several of his chief men. After welcoming them 
with bountiful entertainment, Drake gave them the 
choice of two offers, which he made with the hearty 
approval of his council of captains: he would give them 
one of his ships, a pinnace, and small boats, fully 
manned and provisioned, to enable them to stay and 
make further discoveries of the country and coasts, 
and then, if they desired, to return to England; and he 
would also provide them with any other things they 
required, tools, weapons, and such like, that he could 
spare; or, second, if they thought it better now to 
return to England, he would give passage on his fleet 
to the whole colony of one hundred and three persons. 
Their wish was to remain for a while longer at least, 
when Sir Richard Grenville with a relief fleet which was 
expected might arrive: therefore, with thanks for his 
generosity, they would with great gladness accept his 
first offer, asking only that he would take home with 
him their few weak and unfit men. 

Accordingly, one of the barks that Drake had con- 
tributed to the squadron, the "Francis," was turned 
over to them, with two masters and a force of sailors, 
and orders given to provision her for four months, 
while some of Lane's best men were put aboard her. 



398 The Boy's Drake 

But before her provisioning had fairly begun there 
arose a furious storm, which, raging for three days, 
created havoc among the fleet. Cables were broken, 
anchors lost, pinnaces and small boats cast away; and 
several of the ships were forced to free themselves from 
their associates and put to sea to avoid wreck on the 
coast, they not again to be met with during the rest 
of the voyage. Among these was the "Francis" with 
her two loaned masters, sailors, and Lane's men. This 
was disheartening indeed. But the undaunted Drake 
cheerfully put another ship at Lane's disposal. This 
was the bark " Bonner." She was, however, of greater 
draught than the "Francis" and so could not be 
brought into the colonists' harbour. Thereupon Lane 
and his chief men in council sadly determined to accept 
the second of Drake's original offers and abandon their 
settlement. Then the remaining pinnaces were sent 
to Roanoke to take off" the colonists with their effects, 
and shortly the one hundred and three were all aboard 
the fleet. Lane and his chiefs on the admiral's ship; 
and on the i8th of June the reduced squadron with 
the added passengers finally set sail. 

"And so God bee thanked both they and wee in good 
safetie arrived at Portesmouth the 28 of July 1586, 
to the great glory of God, and to no small honour to 
our Prince, our Countrey, and our selves." 

Thus the narrative closes. 

Of the twenty-three hundred comprising the com- 
pany at the start, seven hundred and fifty, includ- 



Admiral 399 

ing eight captains, were lost during this voyage, the 
greater number by sickness. The sum of the exploit in 
captures and plunder was set down at "three score 
thousand pounds," twenty thousand of which was the 
share of those who made the voyage, the balance 
going to the adventurers, or investors, in the enterprise. 
The ordnance of all sorts, brass and iron, acquired 
numbered about two hundred and forty pieces. 

While he had not carried out his full programme, 
Drake's partners, open and secret, were satisfied with 
what had been accomplished. And so evidently was 
he. When back to Plymouth he wrote Burghley, "My 
very good Lord, there is now a very great gap opened 
very little to the liking of the King of Spain. God 
work it all to His glory." 



XXVIII 
SINGEING THE KING OF SPAIN'S BEARD 

MORE ovations marked Drake's return from this 
dazzling exploit, and he was more than ever the 
popular hero. All this homage must have been 
very pleasing to him, for he dearly loved adulation, 
but it did not turn his head, nor did it content him to 
rest awhile on his laurels. On the contrary, he was 
eager to be off for further operations in the Spanish 
king's dominions. More than one scheme was formu- 
lating in his teeming brain. He would immediately 
return to the West Indies and, before the dazed Span- 
ish officials there could recover their breath, swiftly 
follow up the advantages he had gained by swooping 
upon the king's Spain-bound treasure-galleons and at 
one stroke cut off the financial supplies without which 
Philip's hostile plans would all be demoralised. Or 
he would take up the cause of Dom Antonio, the 
pretender to the throne of Spain, with a warring ex- 
pedition to Portugal, the Azores, and the East Indies. 
Or he would strike a direct blow at Spain on her own 
coast. 

This scheme most of all engrossed him. Philip's 
preparations for an invasion of England with an "In- 

400 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 401 

vincible Armada" were now moving on apace, and our 
restless admiral would curb if not crush them forth- 
with if the queen would give him license to proceed. 
And this he was next to attempt and to accomplish by 
a feat unparalleled in the annals of naval warfare. 

In October (1586), less than four months from his 
return, he was off on a mission to the United Nether- 
lands, bearing despatches from the queen and author- 
ised to complete negotiations with the States-General 
for co-operation in his schemes. His constant friend 
and patron, the Earl of Leicester, was yet there as 
governor-general representing Queen Elizabeth and 
directing the English army. Drake sailed on this mis- 
sion with a squadron of eight ships which carried out 
re-enforcements and stores for Leicester. Upon his 
arrival at The Hague he was splendidly received by the 
States-General and honoured by the people as the first 
navigator of his time. The figure he represented to 
the Hollanders the historian Motley thus vividly pict- 
ures for us: 

"He was a small man, apparently forty-five years 
of age, of a fair but somewhat weather-stained com- 
plexion, with light-brown, closely-curling hair, an ex- 
pansive forehead, a clear blue eye, rather common- 
place features, a thin brown, pointed beard, and a 
slight moustache. Though low of stature, he was 
broad-chested, with well-knit limbs. His hands, which 
were small and nervous, were brown and callous with 
the marks of toil. There was something in his brow 
and glance not to oe mistaken, and which men willingly 



402 The Boy's Drake 

call master; yet he did not seem to have sprung of the 
born magnates of the earth. He wore a heavy gold 
chain about his neck, and it might be observed that 
upon the light full sleeves of his slashed doublet the 
image of a small ship on a terrestrial globe was curi- 
ously and many times embroidered." 

His mission, however, was not wholly successful. 
That is, the assembly as a body decHned to accede to 
the proposals, but, as Motley says, they agreed that 
in every maritime city of Holland and Zealand one or 
two ships should be got ready to participate in any of 
Drake's future enterprises. 

In December he returned to England, Leicester 
accompanying him, and at once applied for a license 
to put to sea. His application was not then granted, 
for queen and council were engrossed in the fate of un- 
happy Mary Stuart of Scotland whose death-warrant 
was signed the day after his return. Nevertheless, later 
in this winter he is found actively employed in secret 
preparations for some new expedition, and early in 
March is at Plymouth busy in manning and provision- 
ing a squadron of twenty-three ships. During the lat- 
ter part of the winter quite startling reports of Philip's 
activity in his hostile preparations had come from 
English spies in Spain, and now the queen seems 
again to have been persuaded to strike the first blow. 
The destination of the squadron was kept a close secret 
till the ships were nearly ready to sail; then it was 
whispered about that they were bound for the coast 
of Spain. 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 403 

The fleet comprised four of the queen's ships, sev- 
eral fine London merchant-men, barks, and pinnaces, 
abundantly armed. The four naval vessels were the 
"Elizabeth Bonaventure," Drake's flag-ship in the pre- 
vious West-Indian enterprise, the "Golden Lion," the 
"Dreadnought," and the "Rainbow," with two royal 
pinnaces as their "handmaids." Four of the merchant- 
men belonged to the Levant trading company; the rest, 
as fine and stanch craft, were owned by other London 
merchants. Four of the barks were contributed and 
fitted out by Drake at his own expense. The "Eliza- 
beth Bonaventure" Drake again was to employ as the 
flag-ship. The "Golden Lion" was assigned to the 
vice-admiral, William Borough, then high in the Eng- 
lish navy and an accepted authority on naval aff'airs, 
and second only to Drake and Hawkins; the "Dread- 
nought" was placed in command of Thomas Fenner, 
Drake's flag-captain in the West-Indian affair; and 
the "Rainbow," a newly launched ship, put in charge 
of Henry Bellingham, a seasoned captain. The land 
force consisted of ten companies of soldiers, under 
Capt. Anthony Piatt as lieutenant-general and John 
Marchant, sergeant-major, both experienced officers. 

The instructions to Drake at the outset were all that 
the intrepid admiral could wish. They gave him full 
power to carry war into the enemy's country if so he 
must do to overthrow the enemy's projects against his 
own. He was to "prevent or withstand" any enter- 
prise that might be attempted against the queen's 
realm; to "impeach the joyning together of the king 



404 The Boy's Drake 

of Spain's fleets out of their several ports," that is, to 
prevent the concentration of the several squadrons that 
were gathering in various Spanish ports; w^as to "keep 
victuals from them, to follow them in case they should 
come forward to England or Ireland," cut off as many 
as he could and "impeach their landing"; was to "set 
upon such as should either come out of the West or 
East Indies into Spain or go out of Spain thither"; 
and was to "distress the ships within the havens them- 
selves." But before he could get away the queen's 
ardour had cooled, upon false reports that Philip was 
relaxing his preparations, and she would fain modify 
these instructions radically. 

This changed temper of the queen Drake observed 
with uneasiness. He would not, however, be undone 
if quick action could prevent. Returning to Plym- 
outh on March 23, he drove the work with such speed 
and so adroitly overcame various obstacles thrown in 
his way, as he believed, by agents of the peace party, 
that in a week's time the ships there were all ready to 
sail. Almost at the last moment numbers of his sailors 
deserted; but this trouble he promptly met by replac- 
ing the deserters with soldiers. Then he was obliged 
to wait precious hours for the Levant Company's ships 
from London which were held back by contrary winds. 
They arrived on the ist of April and joined him in 
good trim; and early the next morning, Sunday, April 
2, 1587, he gave the signal and all put hastily to sea. 

And none too soon. For on that very day a messen- 
ger was coming down from London pojst-haste with 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 405 

new orders practically revoking his instructions. By 
these orders he was forbidden forcibly to enter any of 
the Spanish king's ports or havens, or to offer violence 
to any of his towns or shipping in harbours, or to com- 
mit any act of hostility upon land. He was simply to 
confine his operations to the sea. Here "avoyding as 
muche as may lye in" him "the effusyon [effusion or 
shedding] of christian blood," he was to capture such 
Spanish ships going to or coming from the West or 
East Indies as he should chance upon. Thus his ex- 
pedition was reduced only to a prize hunt among the 
Indian fleets on the ocean highway. Upon reaching 
Plymouth and finding Drake flown the messenger hur- 
ried after him in a pinnace with a lusty crew. But 
though they sailed well out to sea they could get no 
sight of the fleet, and were finally compelled by gales 
to put back to port, with the orders in the messenger's 
pocket. Since they brought back with them a goodly 
prize, valued at some five thousand pounds, which they 
captured off the coast, their failure was condoned. 
From the fact that the messenger was one of Hawkins's 
men and that the owner of the pinnace was also friendly 
to Drake's scheme, there were those who strongly sus- 
pected that the chase was really a feint, with the inten- 
tion not to catch and embarrass him with the new 
orders. 

Meanwhile the fleet had sped on with fair winds 
and by the fifth day from Plymouth had made Cape 
Finisterre, the westernmost headland of Spain in the 
Atlantic. Off Finisterre a gale scattered the squadron. 



4o6 The Boy's Drake 

The blow continued through five days, and it was not 
till the 1 6th of April that they were all together again. 
The union was at a previously appointed rendezvous 
off the Portuguese coast. Here Drake learned from 
some homeward-bound Flemish vessels that there was 
a large accumulation of ships at Cadiz preparing to 
sail for Lisbon. This decided his first move. It 
should be upon Cadiz. He would make for that port 
with all possible speed and attempt the destruction of 
that shipping. 

Evidently without stopping for the formality of a 
council of war he straightway issued his orders to this 
effect and led off on the dash. He arrived off Cadiz 
on the 19th with those of the squadron that had kept 
up with his swift-sailing flag-ship. Then, out of sight 
of the port, he signalled for a council and his officers 
responded. They were, however, merely to be informed 
of his plan, not to deliberate upon It. Some in the 
council advised anchoring for the night to await the 
arrival of the slower vessels and making an attack in 
the morning. But Drake would brook no delay and 
announced that the attack must be made immediately. 
So the officers were dismissed to prepare for Immediate 
action under his lead. This perfunctory method of 
holding a council and this dictatorial conduct dismayed 
some of the officers, and particularly the vice-admiral. 
Borough, who held loyally and tenaciously to all the 
naval traditions and rules, among which none was more 
definite than that defining a council of war. His 
manifest disapproval of this course opened a breach 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 407 

between himself and Drake which subsequent protests 
and acts so widened that ultimately Drake cashiered 
his veteran vice-admiral and sentenced him to death 
for insubordination. This dire judgment, however, was 
not carried out, as we shall see. 

Cadiz was completely surprised. It was four o'clock 
in the afternoon when the fleet appeared in the noble 
bay before the unsuspecting town and stood in for the 
harbour. Then as now Cadiz crowned a precipitous 
rock in the sea at the extremity of a narrow tongue of 
land projecting some five miles north-west from the 
Isla de Leon. Behind the tongue lay the outer and 
inner harbours. The defences comprised a castle half 
a century old and two other batteries, the first com- 
manding the entrance from the bay, the second, the 
inner harbour; while a dozen armed galleys guarded 
the harbours. Opposite the town on the farther side 
of the outer harbour lay Port Saint Mary, and within 
the passage to the inner harbour was Port Royal. As 
the strange sail were approaching the outer harbour 
two galleys issued from Port Saint Mary and rowed 
toward the flag-ship to ascertain the commander's in- 
tentions. Drake informed them with a shot that sent 
them back to port in haste. Pressing forward Drake 
saw before him in the harbour some sixty vessels of 
every class and of various nationalities, while under 
the protection of the second battery lay many caravels 
and small barks. All of them, except those preparing 
for the American voyage, as was afterward learned, 
were engaged upon the service of Philip's enterprise 



4o8 The Boy's Drake 

against England. Most of them were awaiting their 
guns which were to come from Italy. Many were 
without their sails, for it was the practice at that time 
to remove the sails from requisitioned vessels while in 
port to prevent desertion. Drake's fire upon the in- 
quiring galleys disclosed a hostile purpose which threw 
all these ships into confusion, and every one that had the 
means to get away cut cables and hastened for refuge 
to Ports Saint Mary or Royal. To cover those obliged 
to remain at their moorage ten galleys came out from 
under the first battery to bear down on Drake's beam. 
Theijr oncoming he received with his four queen's 
ships. He steered these four ships directly across their 
way and gave them raking broadsides. Two were 
sunk or disabled, the others, mangled, fled under the 
cover of the castle's guns. In the meantime the 
merchant-men, led by the "Merchant Royal," were 
devoting their attention to the ships that had cut their 
cables and were making for refuge, and most of these 
were headed off and boarded, when the greater part of 
their men leaped into the water and swam ashore. 
Upon the routing of the ten galleys Drake completed 
his work without further hinderance. By nightfall all 
the ships outside the inner harbour were in his hands. 
Most of them he sank or burnt undisturbed by a pretty 
constant fire from the second battery. Among those 
sunk was a fine argosy which had in her, as was re- 
ported, thirty-six brass guns, and her destruction was 
"sore against all our wills," one of the narrators writes, 
for the Englishmen coveted her superior ordnance. 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 409 

That night the fleet lay quietly at anchor out of range 
of the batteries, the flag-ship with the other naval ves- 
sels taking a position to seaward and covering the mer- 
chant-men, stationed off the outer harbour, from any 
fresh attack of the galleys. By daylight next morning 
Drake was again in motion. First he sailed the flag- 
ship in among the merchant-men and anchored her 
beside the rearmost ones. Then he rapidly organised 
a flotilla of the pinnaces and small boats, and, taking 
the "Merchant Royal," led them directly into the in- 
ner harbour, for a bold feat to defy Santa Cruz him- 
self, the commander-in-chief of the Armada enterprise. 
This performance was the capture and the burning 
before the town of Santa Cruz's own ship, a splendid 
new galleon, "of an extraordinary hugenesse," lying 
here under the protection of the galleys that were cov- 
ering the shipping at Port Royal, The prospect of a 
brush with the galleys added a relish to the exploit. 
But despite a gallant demonstration by these galleys 
the capture was easily made and, before the forenoon 
had advanced, the handsome ship had been gutted, 
fired, and destroyed. This move particularly dis- 
mayed the vice-admiral and he protested against it. 

The rest of this day was spent in provisioning the 
fleet from the captured stores — quantities of wine, sweet- 
oil, biscuit, dried fruits — and in destroying the capt- 
ured ships except a few retained for use. Thousands 
of tons of shipping and a vast amount of stores were 
thus despatched. "We did burn in the whole," one 
of the narrators, Robert Leng, who describes himself 



410 The Boy's Drake 

as one of Drake's '' coadventurers and fellow-soldiers," 
records, "about 30 sail all of great burthen, so that I 
judge we spoiled him [the enemy] 7000 tons of shipping: 
we burned and brought away with us 500 tuns of breade, 
we also burned 500 tuns of wheat, we also spoiled him 
2000 tuns of wine, besides great quantity of oil." 
Drake set down the total of ships destroyed at thirty- 
two. All this "great provicion of shippinge and vic- 
tualls," Leng declares, "as the Spanyardes saide, were 
prepared against Englande." With this information 
Drake also gained, from sundry papers captured, a 
pretty full knowledge of the magnitude and details 
of the Spanish plan of invasion. 

Shortly after mid-day the wind fell and the invaders 
were becalmed and thus exposed to every device that 
the Spaniards could employ for their destruction. 
Guns were planted at additional points on the shore, 
while the castle and the batteries kept up a lively play 
upon them. The galleys too made repeated "brava- 
doies," while careful to come but momentarily within 
range of their guns. Later several ships were set afire 
and launched against them with the tide. They were 
"not a little troubled" to defend themselves from these 
fire-ships, but they did so successfully; and the burning 
of this shipping by the enemy, saving them thus much 
labour, was to them "a pleasant sight to beholde." 
By all these assaults little damage was done them. 

Not till two o'clock next morning did the wind again 
spring up. Then the squadron made sail and stood 
out past the batteries. But they were barely outside 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 411 

the road when the wind fell and they were once more 
becalmed. Ten galleys followed them out and fought 
them through the forenoon. The galleys could do 
little damage, however, with the single gun of long 
range which each carried in the face of the fleet's supe- 
rior ordnance. At length the calm was broken with 
the rising of a south breeze, when the galleys were com- 
pelled to draw off, leaving the fleet undisturbed to come 
to anchor outside in full view of the town. And here 
Drake rode the remainder of the day "on a bravado." 
When his defiant challenge to the galleys to come 
out and fight him was declined, he endeavoured to 
open negotiations with their captain for an exchange 
of prisoners. It was known that a prize crew of five 
Englishmen had been captured from a caravel that had 
not been able to keep up with the fleet upon the coming 
to Cadiz; and others were supposed to have been im- 
pressed as galley-slaves. Drake therefore sent a mes- 
senger to the captain to propose an exchange of his 
Spanish or Portuguese prisoners man for man for the 
English the Spaniards held. The captain politely re- 
plied that he had no English on his galleys, and that 
the five taken from the caravel were lodged in the town. 
If it would please the admiral to tarry with them till 
the next day the captain would make his request known 
to the governor and would return with that ofl&cial's 
answer. Meanwhile would not the renowned admi- 
ral accept the slight token of his esteem which he 
sent in his boat — some "suckett" (a kind of sweet- 
meat) and such other novelties as he had to off'er. 



412 The Boy's Drake 

This excessive Spanish courtesy greatly entertained 
the admiral, but he felt obliged to decline the Span- 
iard's gracious invitation to remain v^^ith them longer. 
As Leng vigorously puts it, "he perceaved there [their] 
dissymulacion and there intent to defarr tyme for to 
accomplyshe some other there devellish practyse." 

So the negotiations closed, and at night, the wind at 
last coming large, the fleet finally bore out to sea. 
"Thus," concludes the Brief Relation, by the other 
narrator, which Hakluyt prints, "by the assistance of 
the Almightie and the invincible courage and industrie 
of our Generall this strange and happie enterprize was 
atchieved," to the "great astonishment of the King 
of Spaine, which bread such a corrasive in the heart of 
the Marques of Santa Cruz, high Admiral of Spaine, 
that he never enjoyed good day after, but within few 
moneths (as may justly be supposed) died of extreame 
griefe and sorrow." 

From Cadiz Drake sailed the squadron due west. 
The Spaniards assumed by this move that he was 
now bound toward the Azores to intercept the home- 
coming treasure-galleons from Spanish America. To 
head him off Phihp ordered Santa Cruz, then at his 
head-quarters at Lisbon, at once to put to sea with a 
fleet of war-ships. But this Santa Cruz could not do 
for the sailors required to complete his crews were at 
Cadiz driven from the ships there destroyed. Not 
long after Drake's reappearance on the coast was re- 
ported and Philip issued orders for movements of 
forces in various directions where it was thought he 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 413 

might strike. Then again the admiral was lost sight 
of. These manoeuvrings confused Philip and his ad- 
visers, as they were calculated to do. 

The interception of the treasure-galleons was in 
Drake's programme, but it was not his purpose to 
drive for them direct from Cadiz. He was first to fol- 
low up the Cadiz affair with a move upon Lisbon to 
prevent the concentration of the Armada there. But 
on the way he planned to overhaul a Spanish squad- 
ron under Martinez Recalde that had been cruising 
off Cape Saint Vincent, the extreme south-west tip of 
Portugal, to cover the home-coming treasure-ships. 
At Cadiz Drake had intercepted orders from the Indies 
office at Seville to Recalde to hasten to Lisbon. Re- 
calde was a veteran Spanish admiral second in stand- 
ing to Santa Cruz: to capture his fleet, therefore, would 
be at once a distinguished achievement and a stinging 
blow to Spain in upsetting her system of protection to 
her Indies trade. When well off to sea Drake, there- 
fore, shifted his course and made a dash for Recalde. 
Thus it was that he reappeared on the coast and was 
reported off Cape Saint Vincent. In spite of his efforts 
baffling winds and calms so delayed his progress that 
when he had reached this point nothing was to be seen 
of Recalde's fleet. Reluctant to give up the chase, he 
cruised some leagues at sea northward of the cape, and 
thus was again lost sight of, as reported. At length, 
and when a lively gale was upon him, he abandoned 
the pursuit as hopeless, as indeed it was, for the clever 
Spaniard had succeeded in making Lisbon unmolested. 



414 The Boy's Drake 

He now turned to a new *'enterprize" not in his origi- 
nal scheme — the taking possession of Cape Saint Vincent 
and then the watering of the squadron on Spanish 
territory. Cape Saint Vincent was of considerable 
strategic importance at that time, and the roadstead 
was defended by formidable works comprising four 
castles, chief of which was the ancient Sagres Castle 
on the heights. 

Again, merely communicating his intention to his 
council of war, he determined upon his course inde- 
pendently of them. The vice-admiral first learned of 
it when, coming aboard the flag-ship during a calm and 
passing to Drake's cabin, he heard groups of officers on 
deck discussing the astonishing resolve. Such reckless- 
ness profoundly moved him, and upon his return to 
the "Golden Lion" he lost no time in setting down 
in writing and forwarding to the admiral an earnest 
and manly protest. "I pray you," the honest missive 
concluded, "take this in good part, as I mean it; for 
I protest before God I do it to no other end but in dis- 
charge of my duty towards her Majesty and the ser- 
vice." But Drake could not so take it. He saw in it 
another and a more deliberate attempt of his subordi- 
nate to question his conduct and to cross him. Visions 
of Doughty evidently arose before him. He could not 
comprehend the devotion of this naval authority loyal 
to the traditions of the service, and believe that a sense 
of duty alone could impel such a protest against any 
departure from them; he could only see dishonest 
motives, perhaps treachery, in his vice-admiral's con- 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 415 

duct. Therefore his acts could no longer be condoned: 
he must be summarily dealt with. Accordingly Drake 
sent for him to repair to the flag-ship, and when he ap- 
peared brought against him the charge of insubordina- 
tion, placed him under arrest on his own ship, the 
"Golden Lion," and gave the command of her to 
Captain Marchant, the sergeant-major of the land 
forces. And there poor Borough remained through 
the remainder of the campaign, chafing under the 
humiliation of an unjust charge and "expecting daily," 
as he afterward testified, "when the admiral would 
have executed upon me his bloodthirsty desire, as he 
did upon Doughty." 

These proceedings took place on the last of April 
and the ist of May when the fleet lay inshore some 
fourteen leagues northward of the cape. Then get- 
ting under way and doubling back to the southward, 
on the third day of May the fleet suddenly appeared 
before Lagos, a little old seaport some distance below 
Sagres, and completely surprised it, as Drake intended. 
The next morning at dawn a thousand men were landed 
and marched some five miles inland through cornfields 
and vineyards to take the place in reverse, since it was 
understood to be weakly defended on the land side. 
But when the force were within musket-shot they en- 
countered newly erected fortifications held by a strong 
garrison, and were assailed with a shower of shot by 
which several were hurt. In revenge Drake opened 
fire from the flag-ship and one or two of the pinnaces 
upon a body of horsemen on the shore out of range of 



41 6 The Boy's Drake 

the land force's muskets. Since the garrison appar- 
ently comprised three times their own number the force 
turned about and marched back some distance; then, 
taking a stand, waited two hours for the enemy to come 
out and meet them in the open. None coming they 
finally withdrew and returned to the ships. 

Checked in this attempt Drake moved the fleet 
nearer to Sagres and made ready for a more direct 
attack. Early the next morning, May 5, he landed 
with a force of eight hundred "muskett, small shott, 
and pykemen," and advanced rapidly toward a fort 
which they called Avelera. When they had come 
within musket-shot and were about to assault, the gar- 
rison evacuated it and fled to the larger and stronger 
Sagres Castle. Possession was taken of the aban- 
doned stronghold and a guard stationed in it, and then 
the invaders marched against the castle. This forti- 
fication though old was seen to be a formidable work 
both in its situation and its equipment. It enclosed 
about a hundred acres of ground on the top of a cliffy 
three sides of which, on the east, south, and west, fell 
precipitously two hundred feet to the sea. The castle 
walls, as Leng reckoned, were "30 foote hye and ten 
foote brode," and the ordnance comprised fifteen brass 
pieces well mounted. The north side, where alone it 
was accessible by a steep ascent, was defended by a 
high battlemented wall and four towers flanking the 
entrance gates. 

For this assault Drake took command in person. 
Advancing up the sharp ascent, a skirmishing band of 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 417 

thirty musketeers pushing ahead of the main body, 
they met a sharp fire from the castle's guns, but this 
did them no hurt for the shot passed over their heads. 
When the skirmishers had spent most of their ammu- 
nition they fell back to the main force, and Drake sum- 
moning the commander of the castle to parley demanded 
that he yield it up. He haughtily refused. Then the 
assault was renewed with an attack upon the outer- 
most gate. Since he was without means for battering 
It down Drake could force the gate only by firing It. 
Thereupon he despatched a party to the fleet to bring 
up wood and pitch, and when these arrived he himself 
directed and helped his men in piling the fagots against 
the gate and setting the fire, while the vanguard skir- 
mished with the garrison "in their faces on the walls." 
For two hours this perilous work continued, and 
still the gates held fast. Many of the English were 
wounded and two killed outright. Then suddenly from 
the castle walls a parley was sounded, and a flag of 
truce appeared. The Spanish commander had been 
mortally wounded, and the garrison would ask for 
terms. These were granted to their satisfaction with 
the surrender of the castle when, upon Drake's entrance 
and his force In full possession, he "most favourably 
lycensed" all "to departe." 

Next, without waiting for rest, he moved upon the 
fortified monastery of Saint Vincent near by. He had 
only to demand its surrender when the keys were sent 
to him and its defenders fled leaving "divers great 
brasse peces" to fall Into his hands. The neighbouring 



41 8 The Boy's Drake 

castle of Valliera similarly surrendered upon his sum- 
mons without a blow. All three of these strongholds 
were dismantled, set afire, and their guns carried off. 
The guns of Sagres Castle were tumbled over the cliff 
into the sea and there recovered by the fleet's small 
boats. The first fort captured, Avelera, was also 
burned to the ground. 

The fleet rode unmolested in the harbour under the 
castle for four days longer, and the watering on the 
enemy's territory, as Drake had planned, went forward 
peacefully. Meanwhile, and during the land assaults, 
the smaller craft swept the coast some miles to the 
eastward capturing and burning nearly a hundred car- 
avels, barks, and fishing-boats. The ships, says the 
Brief Relation y were *' laden with hoopes, galley oares, 
pipe-staves, and other provisions of the king of Spaine 
for the furnishing of his forces intended against Eng- 
land." With the fishing-boats burnt, some fifty or 
sixty, were consumed quantities of nets; and thus for 
that year was destroyed or crippled the rich Algarve 
tunny fishery upon which the proposed Armada largely 
depended for their salt fish. The men taken with these 
prizes were all fairly treated and sent ashore. 

At length, on the morning of the loth of May, the 
business here finished with the taking on of all the capt- 
ured guns, Drake gave the signal to sail, and the fleet 
were again off for the next "enterprise." This was 
to be the demonstration before Lisbon. 

They arrived off the Tagus River the same day, and 
came to anchor in Cascaes Bay. On the western point 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 419 

of the bay rose Cascaes Castle commanding the anchor- 
age outside the bar to the north of the port of Lisbon, 
while seven miles to the eastward lay St. Julian's Cas- 
tle opposite the northern end of the bar. Here the 
fleet rode "in contempt of the said towne of Castcales 
[Cascaes], the castle, and eight of the Kinges gallies" 
clustered under the guns of St. Julian's with their oars 
out ready for action. At intervals during the day Cas- 
caes town and castle bombarded the fleet, but, "thankes 
be to God," wrote the devout Leng, "we were by his 
providence allwayes shielded from perell" — because 
the shot fell short of or passed over them. Meanwhile 
their light-oared boats were raiding coasters in the 
bay, driving them on the rocks, and capturing them 
in view of the protecting castles. St. Julian's was the 
head-quarters of Santa Cruz and him our admiral soon 
addressed with a grimly courteous message. Having 
captured a caravel close up to the galleys lying un- 
der the castle guns but offering no resistance, Drake 
employed this prize to convey his messenger. He re- 
quested the marquis to deliver to him whatever English- 
men were captives on the Spanish galleys, he agree- 
ing to exchange his Spanish and Portuguese prisoners 
for them man for man — the same terms he had pro- 
posed to the captain of the galleys at Cadiz. Also he 
asked whether the King of Spain had determined to 
make war against England: for If he had he, Drake, 
was here to exchange bullets with the marquis. 

To the first part of this message Santa Cruz replied 
most politely, after the Spanish fashion, that "as he 



420 The Boy's Drake 

was a gentleman" there were no Enghsh there as gal- 
ley-slaves. To the challenge he as courteously re- 
sponded — to quote Leng's record and spelling — that 
the "Kyng was not provided" for war "this yere." 

These answers did not suit our admiral, for he did 
not believe them. Upon a Portuguese ship which he 
had taken letters had been found written by Santa 
Cruz to some friends deliberately stating, as Leng says, 
"that the Kyng had made proclamation in the country 
that he wolde [go or send] to Englande this yere, and 
wolde not leave one a lyve of mankynde above the age 
of 7 yeres." So Drake sent another message chal- 
lenging Santa Cruz directly to come out and fight him. 
But this was as politely declined for the marquis re- 
peated that he had no commission to make war, 

Santa Cruz's determination not to be drawn into any 
engagement was probably the explanation of the strange 
inactivity of the galleys. In his home letters reporting 
upon the Lisbon "enterprise" Drake remarked that 
"seeing us chase his ships ashore he was content to 
suffer us there quietly to tarry, and never charged us 
with one cannon shot." 

Till nightfall of the next day the fleet remained 
standing off and on outside the bar, the smaller craft 
continuing their pursuit and driving ashore every sail 
that came in sight. Then, a northerly gale coming up, 
Drake gave the signal to weigh anchor, and all sailed 
back to Cape Saint Vincent and their former anchorage 
below the ruins of Sagres Castle. 

Drake had refrained from assaulting Lisbon, it is 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 421 

supposed, only because of the weakness of his crews by 
disease and hurts which had so reduced his strength as 
to make difficult the assignment of a proper force for 
landing. Consequently, when returned to this har- 
bour, his first work was to weed out the invalids and 
refresh the well with rest by spells ashore. At the same 
time the ships were cleaned, washed down, and disin- 
fected. Six tranquil days were spent in this mingling 
of business and pleasure. On the sixth day a negro 
was brought before Drake with a report of the appear- 
ance of ten of the Spanish king's galleys at Lagos. 
The negro was a runaway who had been hotly pursued 
by some Spanish horsemen and had escaped to one of 
the English shore parties. 

Upon this report next morning anchors were hoisted 
and the fleet sped eastward to discover and meet these 
galleys. They were a squadron under the Count of 
Santa Gadea sent out by PhiHp's orders, after the 
Cadiz affair, to search for Drake along the south coast 
of Portugal if he were reported in that direction, to 
cruise to Cape Saint Vincent if he were found to be 
making for port thereabouts, and ultimately to join 
Santa Cruz at Lisbon. The galleys were seen as re- 
ported lying off Lagos, and as soon as the fleet were 
come within easy firing distance rattling broadsides 
were opened upon them. They were evidently sur- 
prised by the sudden attack and ran incontinently 
ashore under the cover of rocks where the water was 
so shoal that the English ships could not follow them. 
Thence they returned the English fire but did no harm. 



422 The Boy's Drake 

In various ways Drake tried to draw them out. His 
pinnaces and barks swept the coast, playing havoc 
with the fisher-boats and other small craft, capturing 
or driving them "so that they ran themselves in shoar 
and sunck themselves": but the galleys would not be 
tempted from their cover. At night a small gale came 
up and Drake tacked about before the wind and put 
to sea. The next morning he doubled back and reap- 
peared at Lagos much to the astonishment of the 
Spaniards. Still the galleys would not come out. 
Then the admiral moved the fleet farther to the east- 
ward, his light craft destroying the small coast ship- 
ping as they went, and attacked a fishing village near 
Albufeira. Four hundred men, landed for this pur- 
pose, speedily reduced the place, set it afire, and were 
back on the ships. Even this did not stir the galleys 
from their safe position beyond cannon-shot from the 
fleet. Thereupon, satisfied that it was useless to re- 
main here longer, Drake turned about and left them 
to follow him if they dared. This they did not do and 
the fleet returned without incident to the anchorage in 
Sagres Bay. 

The very next day, the 20th of May, they were off 
for the Azores. When at sea the sick and wounded, in 
two of the prizes and three small barks of the fleet, 
were sent home to England under one of the captains 
who also carried Drake's letters to Walsingham de- 
tailing his progress. In these letters it appears that 
the admiral's purpose was to hold Cape Saint Vincent 
and make it a base for further operations on the coast 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 423 

till the Armada would be completely broken up, and 
he asked for re-enforcements that he "should be the 
better abell to kepe ther forces from joynyng, and hap- 
pely take or impeache his [Philip's] fletts from all 
places in the next monthe and so after, which is the 
chiefest terms [times] of their retornes home." 

What changed his plans so suddenly ? He had 
heard, either through his prisoners or from spies ashore, 
that a rich carrack was homeward bound from the 
East Indies after wintering at Mozambique, and was 
expected to arrive the present month. This vessel he 
could not allow to pass unchallenged, but must if pos- 
sible intercept and have her. He might then return 
and with the expected re-enforcements later pursue his 
operations on the coast. 

The parting with the ships detailed for home took 
place on the zzd. Till then all had been fair sailing. 
But that night, at about midnight, the fleet were caught 
in a rough tempest In which they were "sore tossed." 
For three days the gale continued, and during this 
time the merchant-men disappeared, while the flag-ship 
barely escaped foundering. When on the fourth day 
fair weather returned only ten vessels were found in 
company. 

That day as the flag-ship's damages were being re- 
paired a strange sail was sighted to leeward. Captain 
Marchant with the "Golden Lion" (on which, be it re- 
membered, was still Borough as a prisoner) and the 
"Spy" pinnace were ordered to give her chase. The 
"Spy" reached her first. She proved to be one of their 



424 The Boy's Drake 

own ships, a merchant-man of the fleet, and homeward 
bound. After a while the lookouts on the flag-ship were 
surprised to see the ''Spy" returning alone, while the 
"Golden Lion" was observed to stand away before 
the wind with the other ship, both seemingly for home. 
When the "Spy" reached the flag-ship Captain Mar- 
chant was seen to be aboard her. He had a surprising 
report to make. When he had given the order to the 
master of the "Golden Lion" to "go about" for the 
return her crew, with the boatswain at their head, 
mutinied. They refused to carry out the master's di- 
rections and would return to England with their con- 
sort. They were short-handed, they complained, their 
supply of water and food was low, and they preferred 
to "stand to the queen's mercy than to court certain 
death with Drake." Marchant reasoned with them, he 
said, but in vain : then he deserted the ship rather than 
desert the admiral. Marchant suspected that Borough 
was at the bottom of the mutiny. This story threw 
Drake into a passion. With him Marchant's suspicion 
of Borough's complicity became a conviction. His 
action was instant and sharp. Summoning the coun- 
cil of war, he organised a "general court for the ser- 
vice of Her Majesty" to try the mutineers. They were 
promptly found guilty, and before the two home-speed- 
ing ships had disappeared below the horizon he as the 
justice had sentenced Borough and all the officers of 
the "Golden Lion" to death. 

This incident thus closed, the fleet, now but nine 
ships, continued on the course, aiming for Terceira. 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 425 

At length, on the forenoon of the 8th of June, after 
sixteen days at sea from Cape Saint Vincent, the diffs 
of St. Michael's, the larger and easternmost island of 
the group, rose in distant view. As they neared it, 
toward night, they descried under the land a great sail. 
Drake judged her to be a man-of-war and, ordering the 
"Rainbow" to "lye a lee" and stand by two of the 
pinnaces that had dropped far astern, he himself with 
the flag-ship held on for her. At daybreak she was 
seen apparently making toward them. Having a " pret- 
tye gale of wynde" he made all speed to meet her. 
When he had come within a league of her he saw 
that she was a "mighty shippe which was then called 
a carrack, having out her Portugall flagg, a reade 
[red] crosse." She was indeed the great prize he was 
seeking. 

Then followed what must have been an animating 
spectacle. As she majestically came on she "tooke in 
and put out" her flag, "three or four tymes," that is, 
dipped the ensign again and again, "to the end we 
shoulde discrye our selves." But the English showed 
no colours till they were within shot of her, " when we 
hanged out flags, streamers, and pendentes that she 
might be out of dout [doubt] to knowe who we 
were." Then Drake hailed her with his cannon, 
and "shott her thorowe dyvers tymes." She answered 
back with shots "sometymes att one" of the fleet 
"sometymes att another." Then a fly-boat and a 
pinnace closed in upon her. She strove to drive them 
off with shot and by throwing out fireworks. But 



426 The Boy's Drake 

these hand missiles did no hurt, while her ordnance 
lay so high that the balls passed harmlessly over them. 
Then all of the ships attacked her hotly and their men 
pressed ready to board her. Thereupon she at last 
yielded. 

She was found to be the King of Spain's own East- 
Indiaman and named for him ''San FeHpe": "the 
greatest shipp in all Portugall, rychly laden, to our 
happye joy and great gladnes. There were also in her 
400 neegers whome they had taken to make slaves in 
Spayne and Portugall." Her cargo was magnificent 
in value and variety. There were tons of spices and 
precious gums, bales upon bales of silks and velvets, 
chests of china, of bullion, and jewels. Ship, ordnance, 
and cargo were subsequently appraised in England at 
one hundred and fourteen thousand pounds of Eng- 
lish money of that day. So rich a prize had never 
before been seen. Of larger import were her papers 
that fell into Drake's hands, for these disclosed the 
secrets of the East India trade which Portugal and 
Spain had jealously guarded from their maritime com- 
petitors. The information which these papers fur- 
nished prompted the formation of the great East India 
Company of London merchants — just as Drake's accom- 
plishment on the circumnavigation voyage in securing 
the treaty with Ternate had led the Muscovy Company 
of merchants first to open English trade to the Far East. 

With this stupendous prize in hand Drake's only 
course now was as speedily as possible to get her safely 
to England: then with re-enforcements he would re- 



Singeing the King of Spain's Beard 427 

turn to complete his work on the Spanish coast. Ac- 
cordingly, putting his fly-boat well provisioned at their 
disposal, he courteously dismissed the carrack's cap- 
tain, officers, passengers, and crew, some two hundred 
and forty in all, to *'goe whether they lyst"; and then 
as they departed apparently to return to St. Michael's 
he set sail for home. 

At daybreak of Sunday the 25th of June the return- 
ing fleet sighted Scilly, and on the following day, just 
three months after the start out on the expedition, they 
were back in Plymouth Sound, where, as Leng records 
and so closes his story, "we all to our great comfortes 
gave thankes to God for our prosperous voyage, safe 
retorne, and his great benefyttes." 

It had been indeed a most prosperous voyage, large 
in achievement and results; but to Drake it was only 
the beginning of the work he was impatient to do and 
that he knew must be done if Philip's scheme of inva- 
sion was to be crushed. He had, as he said, but 
"singed the King of Spain's beard." He would burn 
it completely off. 

Therefore, with the re-enforcements he had asked 
he would immediately put to sea again and he looked 
confidently to the queen for the orders to do so. The 
spoil of the great prize carrack, valued at one hundred 
and fourteen thousand pounds, was promptly divided: 
forty thousand going to the queen, a little less to the 
London merchants, and seventeen thousand to Drake. 



XXIX 
FIGHTING THE ARMADA 

THE confidently expected orders did not come. 
Instead came official criticism of his perform- 
ances. Proud of his valour and impressed with 
his extraordinary capacity as she undoubtedly was, the 
vacillating queen would again stay his hand. Her pas- 
sion for peace and the clever play upon it of Spanish 
diplomacy, impelled her not only to withdraw from 
responsibility for his acts but practically to repudiate 
them. Instead of welcoming to her councils her now 
greatest admiral, with a reputation unsurpassed in 
Europe, she was openly professing her "great dis- 
pleasure" at his violation of Spanish territory, while 
her government were diligently endeavouring to ex- 
plain away his action as a "mistake." The reaction 
for peace had gone so far that negotiations were open- 
ing with the Duke of Parma, Philip's viceroy in Flan- 
ders, for an armistice, which might end the war. 
Shortly after the admiral's return Burghley under in- 
structions wrote to Flanders, "unwitting, yea unwill- 
ingly to her Majesty those actions were committed by 
Sir Francis Drake for the which her Majesty is as yet 

428 



Fighting the Armada 429 

greatly offended with him"; and the council disavowed 
his act in landing at Cape Saint Vincent as in excess of 
his instructions. 

The very day after Burghley's letter was despatched 
Drake arrived in London with a "splended casket of 
jewels" from the spoil of his great prize carrack, for a 
gift to the queen. The court were then at Theobalds, 
Lord Burghley's seat. Thither he repaired and soon 
found how largely things had taken a turn against him. 
Here a week later he presented the case of Borough 
before the council. To his astonishment his trial and 
sentence of his vice-admiral failed of endorsement. 
Borough's original offence having been his protest 
against the landing at Cape Saint Vincent, and the 
government having disavowed this, the case of neces- 
sity fell, and Borough was acquitted. Thereupon 
Drake pressed the charge of mutiny against him, pre- 
senting him as the ringleader in the "Golden Lion's" 
desertion, but this also fell. So Borough was exon- 
erated and restored to his old position. 

Meanwhile Drake had seen with mortification the 
men and the naval ships of his fleet paid off and with- 
drawn. Still the nucleus of the squadron was kept 
together at Plymouth in condition for any movement 
at short notice; and despite the forbidding attitude of 
the court he strove persistently for the orders he was 
burning to have. At length before the summer had 
fully passed, his persuasions, together with fresh re- 
ports from Spain confirming his repeated warnings of 
the magnitude of the danger that threatened the realm, 



430 The Boy's Drake 

were surely influencing the queen. A new scheme for 
his employment was formulating, and by October he 
had completed the preliminaries for a new voyage. 

Soon all was activity again. From the confirming 
news it was clear that Drake's statement of the situa- 
tion had been the true one, and his star was again in 
the ascendent. PhiHp had been steadily and hotly 
perfecting his enterprise, and had been straining every 
nerve to get his now reconstructed Armada under way 
in September. In this he had failed, although the 
re-concentration at Lisbon had been effected. Late in 
Noverqber this news reached England and roused the 
court to action. In an incredibly short space of time 
the whole navy, ships and men, were mobilised. Tow- 
ard the end of December Lord Charles Howard of 
Effingham received his commission as commander-in- 
chief, and he announced that in three days the ships 
would all be fully manned, equipped, and ready for sea. 

Drake's commission came close upon Howard's two 
days before Christmas and gave him command of an 
independent fleet of thirty sail including seven of the 
royal navy. His was to be a flying squadron, to 
reconnoitre the enemy's position. His secret orders 
though falling short of what he had so ardently sought 
gave him a fairly free hand. He was immediately to 
return to the Spanish coast and at whatever port or 
ports he found ships assembling he was to distress 
them and interrupt further concentration. If he found 
that the Armada had been perfected and the enemy 
actually at sea, he was to hasten back a despatch-ship 



Fighting the Armada 431 

to warn the government and was to dog the Armada's 
course whatever it might be, seizing every opportunity 
to attack which the weather or bad Spanish seaman- 
ship might give him. 

Instantly upon getting this commission into his 
hands he ordered off one of his pinnaces to *'feel the 
way" along the course he intended to pursue; and as 
soon as the New- Year's festivities were over he went 
down from London to Plymouth to hoist his admiral's 
flag, organise his squadron, and make ready for imme- 
diate departure. Thus opened the fateful 1588. 

Although the secret of Drake's destination was well 
kept, men flocked to his standard "sufficient to man 
two hundred vessels," so a released Spanish prisoner 
reported. It was the popular rumour that he was 
bound on a hunt for the Indies fleet. With the seven 
navy vessels he was to have thirteen ships of his old 
fleet, five London ships, and five which he was himself 
to find. The thirteen were ready at Plymouth when 
he arrived, but neither the navy ships nor the Londoners 
had yet sailed from their ports. The five that he was 
to find he speedily obtained by seizure off^ Plymouth. 
These were vessels belonging to the King of Sweden 
which he detained and requisitioned presumably be- 
cause they were carrying warlike stores. From the 
crews of two of them, which had left Lisbon apparently 
on the 2d of January and which he had seized on the 
20th, he learned that the Armada had not yet sailed, 
but that when they left the work of preparation for 
sailing was "in full blast." This information he hur- 



432 The Boy's Drake 

ried up to London by a messenger with several of the 
prisoners to repeat it. 

But again the temper of queen and court had changed. 
At the very time that his messenger appeared with the 
prisoners' story a contrary report was received by way 
of France. The ambassador at Paris had forwarded 
the news that the Armada had been dissolved as a 
resuk of sickness, death, and desertions among the 
forces; and this was almost immediately confirmed by 
independent word from the King of Navarre. It was 
false news, and so beheved to be by Walsingham and 
by Drake; but it had its effect, and instead of the nav- 
al and London ships to complete his squadron, there 
came to him a command to dismiss the five Swedish 
ships but to keep his original fleet together and await 
further orders. 

This was disheartening, but he would not be checked 
without a struggle. Accordingly he renewed his ap- 
peals to the queen. Forwarding her further intelli- 
gence from his scouts showing the falsity of the French 
reports, he implored her not to throw away the advan- 
tage of the first blow. This evidently was effective for 
once more things were set in motion. Before the mid- 
dle of February Drake had despatched another scout- 
ing pinnace to the Spanish coast. Then the naval 
ships were got around to Plymouth and work to put 
them in condition by graving (cleaning) and tallowing 
was pushed with feverish energy. William Hawkins 
wrote to his brother John that he was working day and 
night "by torchlight and cressets" (lanterns fixed each 



Fighting the Armada 433 

at the end of a long pole) to get these vessels ready 
in anticipation of the sailing orders at any moment. 
Then came the news of the death of Santa Cruz and 
the consequent demoralisation of Philip's plans. This 
revived Elizabeth's hopes of peace, and before the end 
of February the English commissions for peace negoti- 
ations were passing over to Flanders. And then Drake 
received the depressing order not to leave the coast 
for the present. 

The interval of inaction, however, was not of long 
duration. Early In March word came that the Ar- 
mada would surely start out on the 20th of that month. 
This Information was picked up by Frobisher who had 
been despatched by Howard to cruise In the channel 
for news. A day or two after Drake was enabled 
to send up to London full details of the Armada's 
strength and organisation, which he had obtained 
mainly through his scouting pinnaces. Then on the 
15th he received the welcome commission to reorgan- 
ise his fleet as a flying squadron at last to act on the 
offensive. 

This much gained he seized the occasion of the 
acknowledgment of his new orders to press on the 
council a despatch more definitely than before stating 
the principles upon which In his judgment the war 
should be conducted — memorable, as Corbett notes, 
as the first enunciation of the doctrines which made 
England "mistress of the seas." He would prevent 
the Armada from "coming through the seas as con- 
querers" and from joining the Duke of Parma, by seek- 



434 The Boy's Drake 

ing and attacking the fleet at the point of departure: 
in other words, instead of standing on the defensive 
awaiting the Spaniards' coming, he would drive for 
them with the whole available English force and de- 
stroy them at the outset. He would "seek Gods ene- 
myes and her Majesties where they may be founde." 
"My verie good Lords," he urged, "next, under Gods 
mightie proteccion, the advantaige and gaine of tyme 
and place will be the onlie and chief meane for our 
goode." He asked for more powder and shot than the 
regular allowance for his great guns, his plan being to 
pound the Spaniards with rapid firing, in which he 
had been training his men. 

Though this despatch did not bring all he wanted 
it did broaden the government's plans. It was dated 
March 30, and immediately upon its reception the 
queen sent him a command to inform her upon two 
points: first, how the enemy's fleet in Lisbon could 
best be distressed; second, how strong the English 
fleet should be to encounter the Armada. To this 
command he promptly replied in a letter as inspiriting 
as his despatch to the council. If he were given orders 
immediately to proceed to sea, and his squadron were 
strengthened, he with ardour wrote, "then shall your 
Majestie stand assured, with Gods assistance, that yt 
[if] the flett come out of Lysborne, as long as we have 
victuall to leve [live] withall uppon that cost [coast] 
they shall be fowght with, and I hope, throwghe the 
goodnes of our mercyfull God, in suche sort as shall 
hynder his qwyett [quiet] passage into Yngland." 



Fighting the Armada 435 

This was his gallant answer to Elizabeth's first query. 
To the second he responded impressively, determined 
once more, doubtless, to arouse if not scare the queen 
with the magnitude of the threatened invasion. "God 
encreac [increase] your most excellent Majesties forces 
both by sea and land dayly: for this I surly [surely] 
thincke, ther was never any force so strong as ther is 
now redye or makynge readye agaynst your Majestie 
and trewe relygyon." 

Two days after the queen's receipt of this letter 
Howard was given orders to form with the bulk of his 
fleet a junction with Drake's squadron at Plymouth, 
leaving in the channel a sufficient force to watch the 
Duke of Parma. In the meantime Drake had obtained 
from different sources intelligence showing that the 
negotiations with Parma for an armistice had in no 
way checked Philip's preparations, but on the con- 
trary that they had gone forward steadily and with 
great activity. Thereupon he took up his pen again 
and with this information as his text wrote to the queen 
beseeching her to let him loose. The result of this 
letter was a summons to court to assist the council in 
the formation of a new plan of campaign. Respond- 
ing with alacrity he appeared there to press his own. 
Howard and other naval officers were present at the 
conference. The lord admiral opposed his proposition 
to abandon the defensive and proceed with the main 
fleet to the Spanish coast and strike the first blow. 
But the queen was found on his side, and he finally 
prevailed. Thus at last he saw practically adopted 



436 The Boy's Drake 

the pohcy he had so earnestly urged from the be- 
ginning. 

This aggressive plan of campaign was embodied 
in three resolutions which passed the council May 10. 
Within a fortnight Howard had made the junction 
with Drake and an immediate move of the combined 
fleet toward Spain had been decided upon. Drake 
had received the appointment of vice-admiral of the 
combined fleet, second to the lord admiral, and practi- 
cally commander; John Hawkins that of rear-admiral; 
and Martin Frobisher, captain of one of the queen's 
ships. 

The union of Howard and Drake in Plymouth 
Sound was effected with much formality, and it must 
have been an inspiring scene to actors and beholders. 
Petruccio Ubaldino, the Florentine historian of the 
Armada campaign, who wrote under Drake's instruc- 
tion to prepare a "true account," gives us the most 
vivid and probably most accurate picture of this typi- 
cal sixteenth-century naval demonstration. 

Howard was signalled off" Plymouth at daylight on 
May 23. 

The combined fleet practically comprised the ships 
which ultimately fought the Armada. They numbered 
fully one hundred sail of which sixty-nine were galleons 
and "great ships" (battle-ships), others were fine 
merchant-men and pinnaces. The total number of 
the crews was something like ten thousand men. 
Howard's flag-ship was the "Ark Royal," a splendid 
naval vessel, originally designed for Sir Walter Raleigh, 




ENGLISH MAN-OF-WAR ABOUT 1588. 



Fighting the Armada 437 

and sold by him to the queen; Drake's was the "Re- 
venge," of honourable record, which was nobly to 
distinguish herself in the final engagement with the 
Armada. Beyond in the narrow Channel still remained 
the squadron of English and Dutch ships under Lord 
Henry Seymour to watch the Duke of Parma and pre- 
vent his putting to sea with his forces to join the Ar- 
mada, 

Upon the union of Howard and Drake the report of 
the readiness of the Armada to sail was confirmed by 
Drake's scouts, and the day after the junction the coun- 
cil of war came to their decision to move upon Spain. 
Howard was now in full accord with Drake, heartily 
approving his plan of campaign. The next day be- 
ing Whit-Sunday, the two admirals "gave the rest a 
politic and Christian example by receiving the Sac- 
rament together in friendly sort; whereat both fleets 
assured themselves joyfully of a certain and infallible 
victory," according to the pious record of Ubaldino. 

Their intelligence as to the Armada's movements 
fell short of the facts. The invading hosts had actually 
sailed. On the i8th, 19th, and 20th, before the union 
of Howard and Drake, they had streamed out of Lis- 
bon bound for their first rendezvous which was to be 
the Scilly Islands. 

As now composed and organised the invading fleet 
must have presented a formidable appearance and a 
picturesque one as well. The total strength, as esti- 
mated by Corbett, was one hundred and thirty vessels 
carrying nearly twenty-five hundred guns of all kinds. 



438 The Boy's Drake 

while the crews numbered on paper over nineteen thou- 
sand soldiers and eight thousand seamen. At the head 
came the squadron of Portugal, comprising ten royal 
galleons and two large pinnaces. Then came the Cas- 
tile squadron — ten galleons of the India Guard, four 
ships of the flota of New Spain, and two pinnaces. 
These two squadrons were commanded respectively 
by the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, the commander-in- 
chief of the Armada, and Don Diego de Valdes, cap- 
tain of the fleet and the real commander. Sidonia's 
flag-ship was the "San Martin," a splendid Portu- 
guese galleon. The vice-admiral was that foremost 
seaman of Spain, Don Juan Martinez de Recalde, who 
so cleverly eluded Drake in his previous campaign. 
The galleons of Sidonia's and Valdes's squadrons, to- 
gether with some Neapolitan galleasses and Lisbon 
galleys, represented the royal navy. Then came forty 
armed merchant-men in four equal squadrons of ten 
each. The rear division comprised hulks stocked with 
provisions, ammunition, and various supplies. There 
was also a light division of small-oared craft of the 
pinnace class. The line-of-battle ships with towering 
forecastles bearing one or two tiers of guns and high 
poops equally well fortified were ponderous and im- 
posing affairs. All the squadron commanders were 
men of distinction and experienced naval officers. 
Among the volunteers were many young noblemen, 
while of non-combatants were a hundred friars pre- 
pared immediately to install the Catholic Church with 
the conquest of England. 



Fighting the Armada 439 

All had sailed out from Lisbon confidently, but be- 
fore they could clear the Spanish coast trouble came 
upon them. The hulks sailed poorly on a wind; others 
dropped behind or scattered; galleys and pinnaces fell 
short of water; much of the provisions had turned 
out bad. Accordingly on the 9th of June Sidonia sig- 
nalled to put into Coruna. Not all the ships followed 
him in; some were obliged to remain outside, while 
others, out of sight at the time and unaware of his 
order, continued on the course for the English Channel. 
That night a gale came up and scattered the outside 
vessels along the coast. Upon these dismal happen- 
ings Sidonia sent back to the king a depressing report, 
and proposed, in view of the formal preparations 
known to be making in England for their reception, 
that the enterprise be abandoned. To this Philip re- 
sponded with a peremptory order that the dispersed 
ships be collected, the shattered ones be refitted, and 
the defective provisions be made good; and that then 
another start be made. Sidonia could only obey; and 
so at Coruna they remained for a month engaged in 
the work of reconstruction. 

The English fleet were unable to sail forthwith as 
planned, and it was not till the 30th of May that they 
were finally off". They had been held back not alone 
by contrary winds. A vexatious shortage of provi- 
sions also detained them, due to the non-arrival of 
the victualling-ships which had been promised imme- 
diately to follow Howard to Plymouth; and they at 
length got off hurriedly with the scant supplies they 



440 The Boy^s Drake 

had, leaving the "victuallers" to follow and find them 
if they could: for Drake's scouts now reported the 
Armada as ready to come out with the first favourable 
wind. Their start off was gallant, but hardly were 
they in the "chops" of the channel when a southerly 
and south-westerly gale struck them. For a week they 
lay in "the sleeve," between England and France, bat- 
tling with the storm, and then, on June 6, only three 
days before the crippled Armada had put into Corufia, 
they ran back to Plymouth Sound. Their return was 
necessitated, however, more by a report they heard at 
sea than by the tempestuous weather. The skipper of 
a homeward-bound merchant-man from Spain whom 
they met had told of having seen a great fleet standing 
out from Lisbon when he left; and believing these sail 
to be the enemy who might be brought up at any 
moment by the same wind that had held them in the 
channel, they could not leave Plymouth uncovered 
and "to windward." 

Here despatches awaited them that dismayed the 
admirals. The government were again weakening, and 
now suggested that instead of carrying the fleet down 
to the Spanish coast the admirals should take positions 
in the channel where they might guard all the threat- 
ened points at once. Earnest protests against this 
fatal change in the programme were sent back to Lon- 
don in hot haste by both Howard and Drake. Hardly, 
however, was their messenger well on his way when 
there came another despatch in which the suggestion 
of the first one was repeated as an order of the queen. 



Fighting the Armada 441 

Another and a hotter protest was sent up in acknowl- 
edgment of this order. Howard, however, could only 
obey; and on the 19th, the wind being now propitious, 
the fleet again stood down the channel to take the 
positions as ordered. But before they were clear out 
they met the same ill-luck that overcame their previous 
move. Again the wind shifted to a gale from the 
southward, and after beating against it for three days 
they were driven back to Plymouth. 

This was depressing, but the morning after their 
return another messenger appeared with despatches 
from London which put new heart into the admirals. 
Their last protest had been ejffective and had brought 
council and queen back to the aggressive policy. By 
the new despatches Howard's full liberty of action 
was restored subject only to the advice of his council 
of war. Later the long-delayed victual-ships arrived. 
And before nightfall of this lucky day the wind changed 
in their favour. 

All were inspired by this good fortune. Every nerve 
was now strained to get the fresh stores aboard and 
make ready for another start off and this time direct 
for Spain. As the men toiled through that night and 
the next day and night, Drake's scouting pinnaces and 
other craft, one after another, came in with the startling 
report that part, at least, of the Armada had appeared 
off the Scillys. Two squadrons, some said three, had 
been sighted. The admirals concluded that the gale 
which had driven their own fleet back had broken up 
the Armada into scattered groups, and this increased 



442 The Boy's Drake 

their impatience to be off. Efforts were redoubled, 
and late on the evening of the 23d, a Sunday, the work 
was so near completion that Howard gave the signal 
to sail. Several of the store-ships were still unladen, 
and these were ordered to follow the fleet. Thus all 
stood away for the Scillys. 

What Drake's scouts had sighted were the two 
squadrons which, Ignorant of Sidonia's orders to put 
into Coruna, had continued on the course to the ap- 
pointed rendezvous. They had reached the Scillys 
about the 17th, and had waited here for the rest of the 
Armada four or five days when they were found by a 
Spanish officer sent out to recall them and afterward 
made good their return to Coruna. Had the English 
fleet reached the Scillys directly they would have found 
the quarry flown. But this they did not succeed in 
doing. For the third time the wind played them false. 
As before, when they were yet not clear of the channel, 
it shifted. Thus they were compelled to stand off" and 
on. Drake with ten sail took a "cast" down toward 
the French coast but with no result: nothing was to 
be seen of the reported squadrons. Accordingly the 
council of war concluded that the Armada had suc- 
ceeded in getting together, and it was decided that the 
fleet should await the enemy where they were. 

So they lay expectantly in mid-channel for nearly a 
fortnight. Drake was on the left with a wing-squadron 
of twenty ships and four or five pinnaces, to watch the 
"fair way" toward Ushant, since it was thought that 
the Spaniards intended to sail up the coast of France; 



Fighting the Armada 443 

while Hawkins with a similar squadron lay toward the 
Scillys. Drake chafed under this inactivity. He in- 
sisted that the fleet's only proper place was on the 
enemy's coast. As day after day went by without sign 
of the enemy, while the stores were running short and 
rations had to be reduced, and sickness was making 
havoc with the crews to the weakening of their effi- 
ciency, his impatience at length drove him to the very 
act that he had so roundly condemned in Borough — as 
vice-admiral to set forth to his admiral in writing his 
protest and the reasons therefor. In this case the ad- 
miral recognised the validity of the vice-admiral's rea- 
soning and changed his tactics; and the following day, 
the 6th of July, the fleet were moved forward out of 
the channel and took up a station off" Ushant. This 
point gained Drake further pressed for an immediate 
movement against the enemy where they lay wherever 
that might be. And the next day after a long debate 
in the council of war — for the fleet had barely enough 
provisions to carry them to the Spanish coast — he pre- 
vailed. 

This decision was reached at three o'clock that after- 
noon, and the signal was immediately given to set sail. 
The objective point was Coruna. Through that night 
and all the next day and night the great fleet sped 
southward on a spanking breeze, and by morning of 
the 9th they were almost in sight of the Spanish coast. 
Then the favouring north wind deserted them, and 
soon in its stead came a hard blow out of the south- 
west. This was fatal to the chase. With their prey 



444 The Boy's Drake 

just out of reach they were held up; and now they 
could only put about and run back for their own coast. 
At the enforced turn, Drake, ever alert, assigned four 
of his pinnaces to remain behind to pick up what in- 
telligence they could of the Armada's condition, con- 
fident in his own mind that with another attempt, if 
speedily made, the Spaniards might yet be reached 
and vanquished in their own waters. 

Three days later the fleet were back once more in 
Plymouth Sound, and all hands were set diligently to 
work "revictualling" the auxiliary vessels and getting 
things in trim again for sea. Soon the scouting pin- 
naces brought in reports that left no doubt that the 
Armada were making ready for a fresh start out. This 
news was obtained from captured Spanish and other 
ships. Then on the 19th, after a week of strenuous 
toil by all hands, a pinnace came scudding into the 
harbour with the astounding news that the Spaniards 
were oflp the Lizard ! 

It was true in most part. The southerly wind that 
had returned the English fleet to port had brought the 
Armada on. The surprise was complete. The Eng- 
lish were caught in the very trap that Drake had in- 
tended for the Spaniards. But startled as he must 
have been he received the news with unruffled calm. 
At the moment he and his officers, resting from their 
labours, were playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe. In 
the midst of the game Captain Fleming of one of the 
pinnaces broke upon the players with the astonishing 
tale. All turned to Drake for the word of command. 



Fighting the Armada 445 

He quietly remarked that he would first finish the 
game. "There's time for that," said he, "and to heat 
the Spaniards after.'' 

Now the fleets were at last to come together, but in 
English waters. 

It was the squadron of Valdes, captain of the fleet, 
that the scouting pinnaces had sighted off" the Lizard. 
He was joined by the rest of the fleet the next day, the 
20th, and then all continued their course up the chan- 
nel to a point within striking distance of Plymouth. 
Here about four leagues off'shore Sidonia "hove to'* 
for the fleet to close up. Landward they saw great 
volumes of smoke rising from successions of flaring 
beacons on headlands and hills, and they knew that 
their presence was discovered. When all were assem- 
bled Sidonia ran up his holy banner displaying on the 
one side the crucified Christ and on the other the Holy 
Mother, while the flag-ship guns boomed a salute; and 
at this signal, as one of the officers afterward wrote, 
"all our people kneeled down and put up a prayer 
beseeching our Lord to give us victory against the ene- 
mies of His Holy faith." 

Then the commander-in-chief signalled for his final 
council of war. The moment for action had come. 

Sidonia's instructions on putting to sea were to pro- 
ceed directly to the Downs and join hands with Parma. 
With Parma's expected force of small vessels and forty 
thousand men added to the Armada he was to stand 
over and enter the Thames directing his course to 
London, which it was presumed would easily fall after 



446 The Boy's Drake 

an assault and a single battle. The Spaniards were 
strangely ignorant of the operations of the English 
admirals; they were unaware of the blockade of Par- 
ma's entrance by Lord Seymour's squadron oflF Dun- 
kirk, and they knew nothing of the union of Howard 
and Drake. They still believed that the English forces 
were divided into two separate fleets, Howard some- 
where to the eastward to watch Parma, Drake to the 
west to guard the entrance to the channel. Drake was 
their greatest fear, and to out-manceuvre him was their 
main concern. It was thought that he would attempt 
to get in their rear and crush them between his fleet 
and Howard's. Since nothing had been seen of him 
at sea they believed that he must yet be in Plymouth. 
Therefore the Armada should not pass to leeward of 
Plymouth without an attempt to crush his squadron. 
With this decision the council of war broke up and 
the Armada stood slowly on the course toward Plym- 
outh. 

Meanwhile the English admirals in Plymouth had 
executed a feat of daring and seamanship unparalleled 
in their time. With the wind in favour of the invaders, 
their position was dangerous in the extreme. Their 
only safety was in getting out, and this they proceeded 
to do in the teeth of the gale and within gunshot of the 
enemy. Through the night of the 19th the vessels that 
lay in the harbour were laboriously warped out, and 
by morning the greater number were beating out of 
the sound; and before the day following was far spent 
Howard and Drake were as far out as Eddystone with 



Fighting the Armada 447 

fifty-four of their ships. And here for the first time 
they had sight of the enemy. Through mist and driz- 
zle they could dimly see the great Armada some five 
or six leagues to the westward. The wind having 
dropped with the coming of the rain sails were ordered 
struck, and the fleet now lay under bare poles. 

The Armada steadily kept on the course toward 
Plymouth till sundown of the 20th without adventure. 
Owing probably to the striking of the sails the Eng- 
lish fleet outside were not discovered. At eventide, 
however, the lookouts discerned through the wet haze 
a group of vessels lying-to to leeward in the distance. 
It was a startling discovery, for, the Spaniards felt sure, 
these vessels could be no other than Drake's squadron. 
By some miracle the wizard Drake had got out of 
Plymouth and was apparently awaiting them. This 
changed the whole situation. Instead of baiting him 
in a trap as they had hoped, they must encounter their 
arch-enemy in the open. Still Sidonia, after sending 
out a pinnace to reconnoitre, held on his way. But 
at one o'clock in the morning he abruptly came to 
anchor and despatched instructions to his squadron 
commanders to form in battle order in readiness for 
an attack from the enemy at daylight. For the recon- 
noitring pinnace had returned with some fishermen 
prisoners who had given him the whole startling tale 
of the English movements — of the union of Howard 
and Drake, the abortive attempt upon Corufia and the 
return to Plymouth short of provisions, the marvel- 
lous escape out of Plymouth to sea the night before 



44^ The Boy's Drake 

in the teeth of the wind while the Spaniards were ad- 
vancing. He knew now how mistaken he and his 
admirals had been, and saw that he must meet the 
whole English force at once. 

To the English fleet the Armada's position was 
revealed after the rain by the light of a late-rising 
moon. Then they sailed straight out to sea across the 
Spaniards' front. Before morning dawned they had 
"weathered" (got to the windward of) the Armada, 
and at daylight had gone about. They appeared to 
the astonished Spaniards' eyes all to seaward stretched 
out in "line ahead," and "heeling over [bending un- 
der press of canvas] on the port tack," as they bore 
down to attack the enemy's rear. At the same time 
several large vessels were seen coming out from Plym- 
outh. They were some of the largest of the queen's 
ships which hitherto had been unable to get free of the 
sound and were now making to join the main fleet; 
but the Spaniards took them for the advance guard 
of an independent fleet threatening the Armada's left 
front. 

Thereupon Sidonia ran up his royal standard, the 
signal for a general engagement. 

The Armada in battle order appeared as described 
by the contemporary historian Camden, with "lofty 
turrets, like castles, in front like a half moon, the wings 
thereof spreading about the length of seven miles." 
Corbett, the modern historian, in the light of later 
data, English and Spanish, gives a more definite pict- 
ure. There were two divisions, a van and a rear divi- 



Fighting the Armada 449 

sion. The van division comprised the main galleons 
the rear division mostly the merchant-men. Each v^as 
strengthened with galleasses to stand by the flag-ships 
and supported by details from the light squadrons 
among whose duties were, under cover of the dense 
smoke of the discharging artillery, to scuttle the ene- 
my's vessels or disable their rudders. Sidonia and 
Diego de Valdes, with the flag-ship "San Martin," 
headed the van division; Recalde, with the "San Juan," 
commanded the rear-guard or port wing of the rear 
division; and Alonso Martinez de Leyva, lieutenant- 
general of the Armada, with the " Rata," the starboard 
wing. The rear division was the "front" which the 
English attacked, and it was this that presented the 
appearance of a half-moon. 

Sidonia led off with a move inshore, standing "close 
hauled" (close to the wind) for Plymouth, as though 
threatening to enter the port, but really, it would seem, 
with the design of cutting off the out-coming group of 
queen's ships. Formed, however, as his division was, 
in close order of battle, and hampered by the ill-sailing 
supplies hulks which were placed between the van and 
rear divisions, his progress was slow, and he was easily 
out-sailed by the English fleet making for the rear divi- 
sion. The Enghsh passed the vanguard wing of the 
rear division, firing upon them at long range as they 
passed, and then fell upon the rear-guard with a rapid 
fire that astonished and demoralised the rear-guard 
captains. In a panic several of them began crowding 
upon Sidonia's division. To check a general rout 



450 The Boy's Drake 

Recalde came up "into the wind" and held his ground. 
But only one of his large galleons followed his lead, and 
in a moment he was cut off and surrounded by the Eng- 
lish captains, and Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher were 
pouring into him at musket-shot a murderous fire. 

For two hours the fight was kept up, Recalde making 
a heroic resistance, while others vainly endeavoured 
to come to his aid. Sidonia "hauled to the wind" to 
stand by him, and to rally the rear-guard. Then the 
"San Mateo" of the van division made a bold at- 
tempt to beat up to the rescue. But by this time the 
ships coming out from Plymouth had arrived on the 
scene, and passing by the fight with Recalde fell upon 
the "San Mateo." At length Sidonia succeeded in 
rallying the rear-guard and in getting up a sufficient 
force to Recalde: whereupon Howard ran up the signal 
to discontinue the engagement and the English with- 
drew leaving the "San Juan" completely disabled. 

The day's work, however, was not yet quite ended. 
The English fleet had drawn away about half a league 
to windward and were lying-to, when an explosion 
occurred in the midst of the Armada and a vessel was 
seen to have blown up. She was the "San Salvador," 
a large ship carrying the paymaster-general and his 
chests. Next she was seen to drop out of the line in 
flames. At this Howard signalled to make sail and 
the fleet stood off" to capture her. To save her Sidonia 
bore down to meet the threatened attack and a renewal 
of the battle seemed imminent. But so quickly and 
well did his squadron commanders take up their posi- 



Fighting* the Armada 451 

tions that the EngHsh were held off, and finally com- 
pelled to give up the attempt and return to their station. 

Thus ended the "battle of Plymouth." While it 
was not decisive both sides had matter for gratulation: 
the English, in that Plymouth had been saved and that 
they had kept "the weather" of the enemy and dis- 
tressed two of their best ships; the Spaniards, in hav- 
ing beaten off the English in spite of their terrible fire 
and bewildering tactics, saved both the ships they had 
mangled, and being now free to continue their way. 

There was little rest for either fleet. Both lay-to for 
a few hours in sight of each other some two leagues off 
Plymouth. While Sidonia was hurriedly getting his 
three injured ships into some sort of condition for sail- 
ing Howard was in consultation with his council of 
war. The English admirals were now satisfied that 
the Armada's objective was not a western port, but 
some point on the south-east coast or the Isle of Wight, 
for a harbour and an advanced base: and more prob- 
ably the Wight, for that was the last point where any 
large fleet coming up-channel could find a harbour of 
refuge. Accordingly the council decided to follow and 
engage the Armada with their whole force to prevent, 
if possible, the Spaniards' attaining the Wight. To 
Drake was assigned the principal duty of leading the 
fleet in the chase through that night. 

The Armada got in condition to resume sailing in 
remarkably quick time, and before dark, with the shat- 
tered "San Juan" and "Salvador" in tow, all were 
under way again, pushing up-channel. And as the 



452 The Boy's Drake 

English admirals had conjectured, the Isle of Wight 
was now their destination. There they were to re- 
main till concerted action could be arranged with 
Parma. When not far on their way, trouble came 
upon them with the increasing wind and sea. The 
ship of Pedro de Valdes, a kinsman of Diego de 
Valdes, was disabled by her foremast falling foul of 
the main-mast. It was impossible to stop the whole 
fleet, so to Valdes's signals of distress Sidonia assigned 
two or three of the smaller craft to take the disabled 
ship in tow, if possible, or else to receive Don Pedro 
and his crew and abandon her. 

The English fleet, coming together slowly, did not 
get away in the Armada's wake till midnight. Drake, 
as appointed, led off with his "Revenge," her poop 
lantern burning brightly. Till near the end of the 
night all went well, every vessel comfortably following 
the leader. Then, suddenly, the "Revenge's" light 
disappeared. The followers were thrown into con- 
fusion. Several of the captains hove to; others short- 
ened sail : but Howard with two in company held on, 
the "Ark" taking the lead in place of the "Revenge." 
At daybreak Howard and his consorts could make out 
the Armada not far ahead, and at the sight they bent 
to the chase with freshened zeal. By this time several 
of the captains who held up at the "Revenge's" dis- 
appearance had joined them. By sunrise nothing was to 
be seen of the lost leader. What had happened to her .? 

Howard had now come up almost within cannon- 
shot of the Armada, and the straggling ships of his fleet 



Fighting the Armada 453 

began to close up on the "Ark." One of the London 
merchant-men brought in the news of the disaster to 
Pedro de Valdes's ship. She was a helpless wreck, 
the captain reported. He had stood by her the even- 
ing before from nine o'clock till the signal for sailing 
was given at midnight, when of course he returned to 
the fleet; now he asked to be allowed to go out and 
take possession of her. While Howard and the cap- 
tain were discussing the matter a pinnace came in with 
the astounding story that Valdes's ship had already 
been taken and her captor was none other than Drake! 
He had stood by her all night, the pinnace captain 
averred, and had taken her in the morning with all 
her guns and treasure. 

This astonished all and angered some of the fleet 
captains. Frobisher was particularly incensed. He 
would have his share of the spoil, he declared, or **make 
the coward shed" his "best blood." Later in the day 
the "Revenge" reappeared and rejoined the admiral's 
flag. Drake's account of his performance then, or 
afterward, given diff'ered from that of the pinnace cap- 
tain, but it was none the less extraordinary. Thus it 
ran: 

The "Revenge" had stood on as leading ship nearly 
through the night when three or four strange sail were 
discerned stealing past her seaward. Thereat Drake 
ordered his light put out and tacked toward the strangers 
to ascertain who they were. They might be a detach- 
ment from the enemy trying to "weather" him. They 
were soon overhauled and found to be a harmless 



454 The Boy's Drake 

group of German merchant-men. So they were let 
pass, and Drake was proceeding, with the "Roebuck" 
and a couple of pinnaces that had followed him, to 
resume his position, and doubtless to relight his poop 
lantern, when he fell in with Don Pedro's disabled 
ship. This was the first that he knew of her difficulty. 
Instantly he despatched one of the pinnaces with a 
summons to her commander to surrender. Don 
Pedro, one of the proudest seaman afloat, haughtily 
refused and demanded conditions. Drake retorted 
that he was not there for parley, the Spaniard must 
surrender or fight. Since in his disabled condition he 
could not fight he could only surrender: and this he 
did with gracious dignity — regarding it no disgrace, 
great captain as he was, to bow to the greatest captain 
of the time. With forty of his officers and all his treas- 
ure he was brought aboard the "Revenge." 

Then Drake ordered the "Roebuck" to escort the 
prize into Torbay, while he himself set sail to rejoin 
the temporarily deserted fleet. 

Meanwhile Lord Charles Howard and Hawkins had 
captured the disabled "San Salvador" and carried her 
into Weymouth. She had been cast off by Sidonia in 
a sinking condition and was being towed from his 
fleet by a number of feluccas to be sunk. She was 
taken after a brisk little skirmish with her guard. 

Through this day the English fleet, somewhat scat- 
tered, kept up the chase. When night fell the wind 
died away and now the two fleets becalmed lay between 
Portland and St. Alban's Head scarcely more than a 



Fighting the Armada 455 

cannon-shot apart. At daybreak a breeze came out of 
the north-east. This, while contrary for the advance 
of the Armada*s voyage, put the Spaniards in posses- 
sion of the "weather gauge," and gave hope of bring- 
ing their "nimble foe to the handy-strokes." So once 
more Sidonia ran up his signal for a general engage- 
ment and the English welcomed it. 

Clever manoeuvring of both fleets was made before 
they could come to action. The first contact was be- 
tween Howard with Hawkins and ten followers, and 
Leyva now commanding the two rear wings of the 
Spanish rear division. Howard leading his consorts in 
line ahead across Leyva's front poured in a hot fire as 
the ships neared one another. Then Don Martin 
Bertendona with his "Regazona," a great ship of 
twelve hundred tons and having a force of seven hun- 
dred soldiers, made a dash at the "Ark" to board her, 
and Howard could only escape by giving way and 
running to leeward. In the meantime Frobisher with 
his "Triumph" and five other ships, chiefly the great 
London merchant-men, had fallen into an engagement 
with a number of strong Spanish vessels and been cut 
off from the main fleet. Thus isolated Moncada came 
up with the galleasses and assaulted his six ships hotly. 
It was an unequal contest but valiantly fought. 

Now Drake comes into the fray. At the start when 
he saw Howard aiming to weather the enemy he tacked 
independently, and after some manoeuvres which were 
hidden by the clouds of smoke that hung upon the sea, 
he succeeded with his fifty consorts in weathering the 



456 The Boy's Drake 

most seaward Spanish ships, and as the wind veered 
he attacked to the westward. By the fury of his as- 
sauk he compelled them to "bear room" (fall to lee- 
ward), and so lose their advantage as the wind worked 
round. The effect of this move, combined with the 
rapid veering of the wind, was, as Corbett explains, to 
deprive the whole of the Armada of the weather gauge. 
In their various operations the Spaniards had become 
widely scattered. With the shiftii ig of the wind How- 
ard made an attempt for the rescue of Frobisher. Sido- 
nia perceiving his design bore down, with sixteen of 
his best galleons, to intercept him. But now off to 
the windward Drake was seen to have cut off Recalde 
in his crippled ship. The English ships were "cir- 
cling by him and one after the other plunging in their 
broadsides." Thereupon the principal vessels of Ley- 
va's division hurried up to him, while Sidonia detached 
the whole of his own following to the rescue. Then 
Sidonia keeping his course was soon isolated between 
the two parts of his fleet. This was Howard's oppor- 
tunity, and changing his course he drove straight for 
him. In honour the Spanish chief-admiral could not 
give way to the English chief-admiral's flag, followed 
even though it was by a string of consorts; so signal- 
ling for support Sidonia came up into the wind and 
alone awaited the unequal attack. 

It was terrific. Howard's ships passed and repassed 
raking the "San Martin" through and through. Then 
Drake, leaving Recalde as the galleons arrived to 
bis rehef, came up, and taking Howard's place as 



Fighting the Armada 457 

he passed off toward Frobisher, continued the assault 
in the same manner with his squadron. Several of 
Sidonia's best officers had responded to his signal, but 
before they could reach him Drake was upon him and 
his brave ship was in desperate straits. Her rigging 
was cut to pieces, and she was fast making water from 
many shot-holes; while the revered holy flag was in 
tatters. 

The relief arrived only as the last of Drake's follow- 
ing came on; and crowding around the crippled ves- 
sel they shrouded her with the smoke of their guns and 
themselves took the enemy's broadsides as the assail- 
ants finally passed and sailed off. 

Sidonia now signalled to his scattered fleet to gather 
about him and cover the several crippled ships. The 
galleasses that had been battering Frobisher responded 
with the rest. When almost in their grasp he had, 
upon the turn of the wind, adroitly eluded them and 
sailed his ships out of danger: and so swiftly that his 
pursuers, as one of the Spanish officers remarked with 
dismay, "looked as though they were at anchor." 
And now Howard, his ships having run short of pow- 
der and shot, gave his signal to end the engagement. 

So closed at about five o'clock of the summer after- 
noon this second fight — the battle off Portland — with 
the advantage on the English side, and the Armada 
sorely hurt: yet apparently nearly as formidable as ever. 

The next day the English fleet lay waiting for fresh 
supplies of ammunition from the shore, while the 
Spaniards not far off were hurriedly repairing damages 



458 The Boy's Drake 

and making ready to continue their up-channel voy- 
age. This day the English admirals reorganised their 
fleet into four distinct squadrons each composed of 
naval ships and merchant-men, and commanded re- 
spectively by Howard, Drake, Haw^kins, and Fro- 
bisher. Meanwhile they were being re-enforced with 
auxiliary ships and men flocking from various ports. 
The alarmed Spaniards counted fourteen fine vessels 
joining them that one day. The new volunteers that 
crowded to their standard included men of distinction 
and throngs of adventurous spirits. 

Part of the next day, July 24, the two fleets lay be- 
calmed. A breeze coming up in the afternoon, the 
Spaniards were seen forming for departure and in a 
little while they were under way. As soon as the Eng- 
lish fleet could be brought together they also made sail 
and bore up as though to attack. Thus Sidonia was 
compelled to reform in battle order. The English 
really could not then fight, for they had not yet re- 
ceived their fresh supplies, and this move was merely 
to delay the Spaniards' progress. Accordingly their 
rear division was only harassed, and then the fleet went 
about and lay-to in their former position. This ma- 
noeuvring was repeated till at length Sidonia told off" 
forty vessels as a permanent rear-guard to sail in battle 
order prepared to meet any further threatened attack 
without checking the advance of the rest of the fleet. 
Thus protected he continued on his course. 

At length the supplies arrived and were taken on, 
and the English fleet were once more in full chase, the 



Fighting the Armada 459 

admirals bent upon engaging the enemy before they 
could reach the Isle of Wight. They were caught up 
with some six leagues south of the Wight, when both 
fleets were stayed by a calm. The calm continued 
unbroken till the next forenoon. Then a small gale 
arose, and with its coming the engagement opened. 

It was forced by some daring manoeuvres of the Eng- 
lish. Howard and Frobisher occupied the attention of 
the rear-guard while Drake and Hawkins were work- 
ing to windward for an attack on the weather flank of 
the van division, their object being to drive the whole 
Armada on the dangerous banks called the Owers. 
There was hot fighting in both movements. But the 
assault of Drake and Hawkins was the finishing blow. 
The weathermost ships gave way to it and retreated 
into the body of the Armada, and all were thrown 
into confusion. And finally, driven away from the 
harbour of their aim, where they hoped for rest and 
communication with Parma, all were in full sail driving 
for Calais with the English fleet in distant chase. 

So, with at last a pronounced victory for the Eng- 
lish, closed the third action — the battle oflF the Isle of 
Wight. 

The next day the two fleets lay in sight of each other 
again becalmed, while the English formally celebrated 
their triumph on board the "Ark" with Howard's 
knighting of his foremost captains. Those thus hon- 
oured were Hawkins, Frobisher, Beeston, a veteran 
officer in the queen's navy of long and honourable ser- 
vice, and Howard's kinsmen: Lord Thomas Howard, 



460 The Boy's Drake 

commanding the "Golden Lion," and Lord Sheffield, 
of the "White Bear." Drake, already knighted by 
the queen, the lord admiral had no power to reward 
with higher title. 

As this day closed in the south-westerly breeze re- 
vived, and the Armada again set sail with the English 
fleet in chase as before. A stormy night followed, but 
still both fleets pushed on. As morning broke lower- 
ingly the English were almost within cannon-shot of 
the enemy. By afternoon, with the weather breaking 
up, Calais hove in sight. When athwart Calais the 
Armada came to anchor. The English fleet did the 
same, within culverin-shot of the Armada dead to 
windward. 

Suddenly, while Sidonia was hastening off* messages 
to Parma, of whom he had received no news, explain- 
ing at what risk he lay, the uneasiness of his admirals 
was increased by the sight of a fine squadron of thirty- 
six sail joining the English fleet. They were the ships 
of Lord Seymour's squadron that had been blockad- 
ing Parma's approach, with those of Sir William Wyn- 
ter, rear-admiral of the channel squadron. Drake had 
sent Lord Seymour, by a caravel, the news of the first 
engagement off^ Plymouth, and later he had received 
orders to join the lord admiral. The new-comers 
anchored beside the port division of the fleet. Thus, as 
this night closed, the full English marine strength lay 
to the windward of the worn enemy. Howard now 
counted near about one hundred and forty sail of fight- 
ing ships, barks, and pinnaces. 



Fighting the Armada 461 

The dislodgement of the Armada from the Calais 
road in disorder, to be followed up with a hot attack 
before the fleet could recover from the confusion and 
reform, was now determined upon by the English 
admirals. This plan was approved by the council of 
war the next morning, Sunday, and it was decided 
that the dislodgement should be attempted that night 
with fire-ships. Sir Henry Palmer was hurried off in 
a pinnace to Dover for vessels and materials. He had 
hardly left, however, when one of the captains showed 
that it would be impossible for him to get what he was 
after and return in season for any operation that night. 
Thereupon it was resolved to take the necessary ships 
from the fleet. Drake made the first offer — a ship of 
his own called the "Thomas." Hawkins followed, with 
an offer of one of his ships. Finally eight ships in all 
were assigned, five of them from Drake's original 
squadron. They were hastily made ready for the aw- 
ful service without stopping to remove their stores or 
guns, and before midnight were prepared to start out. 

Meanwhile with the Spaniards things had been go- 
ing cheerlessly through this Sunday. 

Toward midnight the tide turned and was soon 
swirling through the crowded fleet "like a mill race," 
while the wind blowing with the tide was freshening. 
Every vessel had out two anchors. Midnight passed. 
Suddenly the lookouts caught sight of two suspicious 
fires rising from where the English fleet lay. Then 
others like them were seen breaking out. Then eight 
were seen together moving forward, and their true 



462 The Boy's Drake 

nature was discerned. They were the eight fire-ships 
with sails full set flaring rapidly down on the wind and 
tide straight for the midst of the Armada. As they 
came on spurting fire and their guns banging and roar- 
ing they must indeed have been, as a Spanish witness 
described, "a horror to see in the night." Instantly 
all was panic on the seemingly doomed fleet. To haul 
up anchors there was no time. Sidonia signalled the 
order for cables to be cut. Indescribable confusion 
followed. "Every vessel," wrote the same witness, 
"was forced to shift herself thence as best she could 
flying from so great a peril as that which stared us in 
the face." On the flood of the tide they were rid- 
ing head to wind, and as they were in the dark and 
made sail, says Corbett, "ship fell on ship and cries of 
panic and the crash of spars mingled with the sound 
of the fire-ships' exploding guns." Gradually, how- 
ever, the mass loosened and fell apart, and then, as 
by a miracle, the tide swept the great fleet out of the 
fire-ships' track and the flaming pack passed over the 
abandoned anchorage and harmlessly burnt themselves 
out. They had none the less done their work, the 
Spaniards had been driven from their station in con- 
fusion, and were open to the proposed attack before 
they could reform for defence. 

As soon as the fire-ships had drifted by Sidonia 
brought up his flag-ship and anchored, and signalled 
the rest of the fleet to do likewise, his idea being that 
at daylight they might be able to return to the anchor- 
age. Only two or three of the vessels nearest him. 




THE BATTLE WITH THE ARMADA. 
Eight fire-ships with sails full set flaring rapidly down on the wind. 



Fighting the Armada 463 

however, responded to his signal, the others being un- 
able to get out their spare anchors in time; and thus 
the bulk of the fleet continued to drift along the coast 
to leeward till they lay some two leagues off Grave- 
lines. When daybreak revealed their position Sidonia 
saw that there was no hope of returning to the lost 
anchorage; accordingly he weighed and set off to form 
battle order on the most leewardly ships. 

Directly upon perceiving this movement Howard 
gave his signal to the English fleet to weigh, and at 
once led off" for the attack. 

All were in full sail on a favouring wind when 
athwart Calais Howard, in the lead, caught sight of the 
splendid flag-ship of the galleasses, Moncada's, labour- 
ing along shore with her oars and foresail striving to 
gain the shelter of the Calais guns. The temptation 
to make for such a glorious prize was more than How- 
ard could resist. So he deliberately turned aside with 
the galleons of his squadron and merchant-men for her 
capture, while the rest of the fleet passed on. Now 
Drake took the post at the fleet's head and the decisive 
battle of Gravelines that followed was for the most 
part under his sole leadership. 

It was as Sidonia with his few consorts was running 
to leeward that the English came bearing toward him 
— Drake's, Hawkins's, and Frobisher's squadrons in 
line one after another. As the sun rose Drake closely 
followed by three of his consorts came into effective 
range. Then he plunged the bow battery of his " Re- 
venge" into the "San Martin's" towering sides; then 



464 The Boy's Drake 

hauling to windward he gave her his broadsides; and 
then leaving Hawkins to continue this fight, he passed 
on to head off the bulk of the fleet standing out from 
the Dunkirk banks to join Sidonia. In spite of his 
efforts Drake could only check the offshore movement, 
and at length some fifty ships succeeded in getting 
about the "San Martin" and her consorts, the "San 
Marcos" and the "San Juan." With these fifty-three, 
then, the battle was mainly fought. 

Striving to maintain a compact formation the fifty- 
three endeavoured to work forward into the open sea, 
while their assailants by repeated attacks aimed to cut 
off the weathermost ships and force the rest toward 
the Zeeland banks. Thus it became a furious running 
fight, the heaviest weight falling on the weather part 
of the Spanish Hne. Of these the "San FeHpe" and 
the "San Mateo" were cut off and fiercely fought. 
Bravely both resisted the hot assault for hours. The 
" San Felipe," almost torn to pieces, still held out. The 
"San Mateo" fought on till she was "a thing of pity to 
see, riddled with shot like a sieve," all her rigging de- 
stroyed, her upper works all shot away, her helm shat- 
tered, and the water pouring in through shot-holes. 
At one time her commander, Don Diego Pimental, 
feeling that she was surely sinking under him, made a 
desperate effort to grapple and board the nearest enemy. 
He was not allowed to approach. Thrilled by his 
superb heroism, an officer on one of his assailants 
"sprang with sword and buckler into the top, clear of 
the smoke, and offered quarter to the remnant of his 



Fighting the Armada 465 

splendid command. 'Soldiers so fine/ cried he, 
'should surrender to the Queen a huena guerra [after 
such loyal battle]." For answer, "a musketeer levelled 
his piece, the Englishman fell, and amidst the derisive 
taunts of the Spaniards" the Enghsh ship drew clear, 
"and the carnage went on." 

Meanwhile the "San Martin" temporarily put out 
of action had stopped her leaks with leaden plugs, and 
had endeavoured to lead a following to the rescue of 
the "San Mateo" and the "San Fehpe," but they were 
soon met and driven off by a group of the English 
ships. Leyva, with some of the vanguard, struggled 
hard to the "San Mateo's" support, but before he 
could reach so far he too was cut off. This was done 
by Howard's squadron which at last had come upon 
the scene. Now the action had become general. The 
English ships were circling about the isolated Spanish 
ships one after another delivering one broadside and 
going about to deliver the other. 

Drake was in the thick of it all. His "Revenge," 
says Ubaldino, was "letting fly every way from both 
her broadsides so that she seemed to repeat her fire as 
rapidly as any harquebusier." She was riddled with 
every kind of shot, pierced above forty times; her cabin 
was twice shot through, and near the end of the action 
"the bed of a certain gentleman lying weary thereupon 
was taken quite from under him with the force of a 
bullet." 

By three o'clock in the afternoon most of the isolated 
ships, now fifteen or sixteen, lay at the mercy of the 



466 The Boy's Drake 

English, and they were counting upon the lot as rich 
prizes to be taken at leisure. Then suddenly a squall 
with torrents of rain swept down upon the warring 
fleets and abruptly stopped the engagement. The 
English were able to meet and withstand the tempest, 
but the Spaniards were compelled to run with their 
shattered ships before it. One of the largest of Re- 
calde's squadron, the "Maria Juan," a fine ship of 
twenty-four guns, foundered, carrying down with her 
the dead and dying of her original force of two hun- 
dred and seventy soldiers and sailors now reduced to 
eighty unhurt men. When in a short quarter of an 
hour the squall was over, the Spaniards were seen once 
more together and in close formation lying to leeward 
of Dunkirk. Thus the expected prizes had slipped 
from the English; they were even without the great 
galleasses for which Howard had turned aside at their 
start out, for after her capture on the Calais banks she 
had been seized by the governor of Calais as a wreck 
in his own waters. Still they might yet have their lost 
prizes and more, for the course which the Spaniards 
were taking if the wind held good must surely lead the 
whole Armada to destruction on the Zeeland banks. 
So all that they now need to do was to hang on the 
Spaniards' weather quarter to hold them upon their 
fatal course. 

As night approached the crippled "San Mateo" was 
seen to drop out of the Armada's ranks; then the 
"San Felipe." Both drifted to the Zeeland coast and 
there were taken. A third cripple, which was not 



Fighting the Armada 467 

identified, was cast ashore and lost. At nightfall the 
weather grew rougher with a nasty sea. Nevertheless 
most of the flying ships continued on the fatal course 
under full sail. But Sidonia shortened sail and came 
up as close to the wind as he could, and three or four 
of the best galleasses followed his lead. Thus when 
morning broke the "San Martin" with her scant fol- 
lowing was again alone while the others were two 
leagues leeward still under full sail driving headlong 
to the treacherous banks. Daylight revealing Sido- 
nia's position, the English fleet swooped down upon 
him. In vain he signalled to the others for support. 
Some of his officers urged him to surrender, or save 
himself with a pinnace. He refused to do either. In- 
stead, drawing in battle array his few consorts and the 
three remaining galleasses that had joined him, he 
boldly made a show of meeting the final attack. " So 
having confessed himself with his ofl&cers," he prepared 
"to die like a Christian soldier." 

But there was no attack. "God," it seemed to the 
awaiting Spaniards, "had suddenly blinded their ene- 
my," for the English fleet, seemingly without cause, 
held off. This action, however, was exactly as planned 
by Drake, now apparently directing the fleet. It was 
not his purpose to attack, but to drive Sidonia to shoal 
water and the treacherous shore, the danger of which 
he best knew from his experiences in his apprentice- 
ship days with the old coasting skipper. The move 
was eff^ective. With the wind as it was nothing now 
apparently could save a single vessel from the banks, 
and all awaited the awful catastrophe. 



468 The Boy's Drake 

Suddenly, again as by a miracle, the wind changed. 
From the "San Martin" and her consorts "a shout 
of joy went up'* as the pilots cried they were saved. 
Before noon the whole fleet were once more together 
free of the shore and standing far out in the deeps of 
the North Sea. They had escaped as "by an inter- 
position of God," the Spaniards firmly believed, while 
the English captains "bowed in silence to the inscru- 
table will that had robbed them of their prey." 

It seemed to the admirals as though the work was 
all to be done over again. In the afternoon the council 
of war decided that the Channel squadron must return 
to block the approach of Parma, while the main fleet 
must continue the pursuit of the enemy. To Drake 
again was given the leadership in this chase. 

He accepted the situation with great cheerfulness, 
and stimulated all with his abounding spirits. "There 
was nothing pleased me better than the seeing the 
enemy flying with a southerly wind to the northwards," 
he wrote to Walsingham the next day. "We have the 
army of Spain before us and mind with the grace of 
God to wrestle a pull with him." 

For two days the chase was kept up. On the third 
day it was decided to run for the Firth of Forth to 
supply their needs, particularly in ammunition, now 
dangerously short, then to resume the chase. Heedless 
of this change, of course, the Armada pressed on, now 
seemingly bound for the Orkneys or Shetland. To 
make sure, however, Drake assigned his caravel and a 
royal pinnace to keep them in view till they were be- 
yond the northern islands. Next morning the wind 



Fighting the Armada 469 

again changed. Now it was thought that the Span- 
iards might return to the Channel and make one last 
eflFort to join with Parma. Accordingly it was de- 
termined to run for the north foreland where it was 
hoped ammunition might be taken on that would en- 
able the fleet successfully to fight them should they 
reappear. When off Norfolk the wind had become a 
westerly gale, and Drake was now certain that Sidonia 
could not at this time return. He might, however, 
have made some Danish port where he could refit and 
then attempt the junction with Parma; therefore Drake 
would keep the fleet together a while longer. So he 
wrote Walsingham. Two days later he wrote that 
there was yet danger especially from Parma, and 
therefore he proposed to make a demonstration before 
Dunkirk to let Parma know that they were back and 
ready "to treat him as they had Sidonia." 

But this was not done. The queen had had enough. 
The enormous cost of the campaign was worrying her, 
and the outcome of the victory in prizes and treasure 
taken had not come up to her expectations. So the 
admirals were called to London and the fight with the 
"Invincible Armada" was over. 

In time the men and ships of the victorious fleet were 
discharged, but not till after the crews had been deci- 
mated by a dreadful epidemic that broke out among 
them in port and carried off hundreds, "dying Hke 
flies"; and not without one hurried reorganisation 
upon a false report that the Spaniards were re- 
turning. 



470 The Boy's Drake 

And how fared the fleeing enemy ? They attempted 
to make their weary way home to Spain by the back- 
side of Scotland and Ireland, and many were wrecked 
on the iron-bound western coasts. In September the 
governor of Conn aught reported twelve ships cast 
away on the coasts of his own province, besides others 
that sank in sight of land. Their crews were drowned 
except a thousand men, and these, after landing, were 
all massacred. Other wrecks were reported from 
Munster and Ulster, and several from Scotland, and, 
says the historian, of their crews who escaped the sea 
scarcely one was spared. Less than half of the one 
hundred and thirty sail that had put out from Coruria 
reached a Spanish port. Of the Spanish admirals, 
Leyva, "the idol of the king and the fleet," perished on 
the Irish coast. Sidonia got safely back, and retired 
discredited to his country home. Diego Flores was 
thrown into prison. Recalde died broken-hearted. 

Over his accomplishments in this first great naval 
campaign of England Drake was not boastful. He 
was most impressed with the gravity of the affair. *' If 
I have not performed as much as was looked for," he 
wrote through Walsingham to the queen, "yet I per- 
suade myself his good lordship will confess I have been 
dutiful." 



XXX 

THE LAST VOYAGE 

TO Drake now passed practically the further con- 
duct of the war, and he proposed a next move as 
bold as that which had led to his " singeing the 
King of Spain's beard." This was an immediate in- 
vasion of Spain before the king could recover his 
breath from the crushing blow of the defeat of the 
Armada, and with a fleet as great as that. The aim 
was the complete breaking-up of Spain's maritime 
power. Therefore the invading fleet should strike di- 
rectly for Lisbon as the centre of Spain's naval posi- 
tion. With this port possessed the Indies fleets could 
next be headed off^; and finally, by a succeeding expe- 
dition, Spain's monopoly of Spanish-America could be 
broken. 

For the scheme of invasion he sought the co-opera- 
tion of Sir John Norreys, his comrade-in-arms in the 
Irish campaign of fifteen years back, and now the most 
famous military captain of the time, " marshal-of-the- 
field" to the whole of Elizabeth's land forces, and 
withal a dashing, slashing, cruel warrior, popularly 
dubbed "Black John Norreys." The soldier fell heart- 
ily in with the admiral's plan and the two straightway 

471 



472 The Boy's Drake 

developed it with the utmost despatch. As finally ar- 
ranged the venture w^as to be a private affair backed 
by a public company, the queen a principal share- 
holder: that is, these two bold, confident spirits pro- 
posed to relieve the government of the responsibility 
of this campaign and take it upon their own willing 
shoulders. The proposal laid before the queen was 
that she provide six of her naval ships with two royal 
pinnaces all found and manned, and four months' sup- 
ply of victuals, wheat for three months more, and 
twenty thousand pounds cash, as her investment in 
the enterprise, while Drake and Norreys should under- 
take to find each twenty thousand pounds more; and 
that they be given a general commission for "the de- 
fence of the realm." The queen was further to send 
an envoy extraordinary to the Netherlands to ask their 
co-operation. The scheme included a demonstration 
for Dom Antonio, the plan of campaign being under- 
stood to be the capture of Lisbon and the Azores in 
the name of the Portuguese pretender and the estab- 
lishment of him on the throne of Portugal, or at least 
in the islands. To this end Dom Antonio and his 
suite were to be taken along on the expedition. 

The queen accepted the proposition late in October, 
and before the close of the year had paid in her sub- 
scription. The city of London had subscribed ten 
thousand pounds, and Drake's old company, that had 
"financed" his previous campaign, five thousand; the 
vessels for the fleet were gathering in various channel 
ports ultimately to report at Plymouth, the port of con- 



The Last Voyage 473 

centration for the whole force; and ships and soldiers 
were promised from the States-General. But such, 
as usual, were the delays of the government that it was 
March of the new year (1589) before Drake could 
hoist his jflag at Dover, the rendezvous of the naval 
vessels and a squadron of merchant-men, and sail to 
Plymouth. The promised Dutch men-of-war not hav- 
ing arrived, he found himself without sufficient trans- 
ports to carry the throngs of troops assembled at 
Dover; but this annoyance he soon overcame in his 
characteristic audacious way. As luck would have it, 
just after he had set sail a fleet of sixty fine Dutch fly- 
boats came along, in ballast, having passes for Spain, 
and these answering his purpose, he seized, or "stayed," 
them, and "persuaded" their skippers voluntarily to 
attach them to his fleet as transports. 

At Plymouth more throngs flocked to his standard, 
"crowds of gentlemen and whole companies of soldiers," 
so that his forces were brought to a total of upward of 
twenty thousand men. When ready to sail the fleet 
comprised, with the six naval ships, sixty armed mer- 
chant-men, and the sixty Dutch fly-boats, in all one 
hundred and twenty-six sail besides the pinnaces; while 
the force, although reduced by withdrawals toward the 
last moment, counted fifteen thousand competent men — 
sailors, soldiers, officers, and hundreds of gentlemen vol- 
unteers. The organisation was strictly military, Drake 
and Norreys being designated "generals of the army." 

After various hinderances that sorely tried Drake's 
patience the fleet at last put off for sea on an early 



474 The Boy's Drake 

April day. But hardly had they cleared the sound 
when the wind chopped round and forced them back, 
or all save one of the navy ships — the "Swiftsure." 
And now the stoppage of the expedition indefinitely 
was threatened. Lord Essex, the queen's present fa- 
vourite, had disappeared from court leaving behind a 
letter which told that desperate with debt and idleness 
he had gone off to "win fame and wealth or perish in 
the attempt"; and believing that he had joined this 
expedition the queen's messengers appeared to stay it 
till he was found and sent back to court. Both generals 
protested that they knew nothing of him: but it was 
strongly suspected if not actually known that the noble 
runaway was on the " Swiftsure," of which his friend, 
Sir Roger Williams, a renowned Welsh captain, was 
commander. However, without producing him, they 
were at length permitted to depart, and on the i8th of 
April a second start was made. Again trouble was met 
in the channel from cross winds, and several of the 
transports with nearly two thousand troops on them 
were unable to weather Ushant; but the remainder of 
the fleet managed to keep the course and with a return 
of favouring weather were speeding on toward the 
Spanish coast. 

They were not, however, making the dash for Lis- 
bon as Drake had planned. He was sailing under a 
commission far different from that he had asked and 
the queen had promised. 

Accordingly, against his will and his judgment, and 
with forebodings of failure through the enforced aban- 



The Last Voyage 475 

donment of his plan, Drake directed the fleet first for 
Santander, on the Bay of Biscay, where the bulk of the 
old Armada that had escaped destruction appears to 
have been collected. But the wind became unfavoura- 
ble for this port, and shortly the course was changed 
toward Corufia, for the generals had learned that a 
number of Spanish vessels had recently put in there. 
Coruiia was reached on the 24th and taken by sur- 
prise. In the harbour lay a great Portuguese galleon, 
the "San Juan," of ten hundred and fifty tons and 
many guns, several other fine ships, considerable small 
craft, and two galleys, all, unsuspicious of danger, ill- 
prepared to meet an enemy. The arrival was signalled 
by a bombardment and the next day Norreys landed 
with the larger part of the land force. The battles that 
ensued were sanguinary. The place comprised prac- 
tically two towns: a lower on the harbour front, an 
upper on a promontory jutting out into the bay. The 
lower town was first attacked, and carried, after a 
brisk skirmish, with the capture of Don Juan de Luna, 
the military commandant of Coruha, and others of 
high rank. All the Spaniards retreated to the upper 
town save a mass of five hundred who mistook the 
order for retreat, and every one of these was put to the 
sword by the relentless invaders. Then the place was 
sacked. One storehouse was filled with wine collected 
it was said for PhiUp's new Armada. This was emp- 
tied and the sackers fell to drinking themselves "in- 
capable and speechless," an excess which led to dire 
afflictions in sickness and death among the fleet. The 



476 The Boy's Drake 

noble "San Juan" was set afire by the Spaniards be- 
fore their evacuation to prevent her falHng into the 
hands of the EngHsh; all the other shipping, all the 
stores, and all the arms that could not be carried off, 
the invaders destroyed. 

Next day the upper town was attacked. Then, after 
giving the lower town to the flames, the troops re- 
embarked and the fleet sailed away. With the burn- 
ing of the warehouses and the shipping — all but three 
vessels that were added to the fleet — Coruna was 
rendered useless as a port of concentration for the new 
Armada although but a single war-ship had been 
"distressed." 

Having done this much, the generals felt free at last 
to make for Lisbon. While all that their instructions 
called for before they might attempt it had not been 
accomplished, they felt justified in the move, assured 
that by immediate action they might take the Portu- 
guese capital by surprise as they had taken Coruna, 
and so gloriously possess it, as they might not be able 
to do if the move were postponed. In accordance with 
this decision their course was now directed toward the 
Berlenga Islands off Cape Carvoeiro, the intent being 
to make a first landing at the town of Peniche under 
this cape, some fifty miles from Lisbon. On the way 
the " Swiftsure," of which nothing had been seen since 
the departure from Plymouth, appeared, with six sail 
in tow, and joined the fleet. She had made a little 
campaign of her own off Cape Saint Vincent and had 
captured the six prizes. On board her w*as the run- 



The Last Voyage 477 

away Essex who was rejoicing at having had some 
adventure and hopeful of yet attaining the fame and 
weakh he was seeking. 

Peniche was duly reached, surprised, and taken, 
Norreys was for making at once a forced march with 
the army overland to Lisbon and attacking its gates 
from the suburbs. Drake stoutly objected. Such a 
march and attack, without field-pieces, baggage-trains, 
and other proper equipment, and away from the sup- 
port of the fleet, would be more than likely disastrous; 
instead he was for proceeding direct to the Tagus, 
where, as the fleet forced the defences at the river's 
mouth, the army could operate from Cascaes. He, 
however, gave way before Norreys' opinion and agreed 
to take the fleet to Cascaes and meet Norreys at Lisbon 
if the weather did not hinder him. So, with Norreys, 
and Essex, and Dom Antonio, and his suite in the 
forefront, the daring march was begun while Drake 
sailed to the Tagus. Coming before Cascaes he took 
it without a blow. Had the army been near him, an 
immediate attack upon Lisbon by sea and land might 
have been made with every prospect of success, for the 
city was half deserted and unprepared for resistance. 
As it was Drake could only impatiently await tidings 
of Norreys's progress. At length, hearing nothing, he 
determined to hazard an attack alone. Just as he was 
about to start in word came that Norreys's forces were 
in full retreat upon Cascaes. To secure their re- 
embarkation he began an assault upon Cascaes Castle 
which still held out. With the army's arrival the 



478 The Boy's Drake 

castle was closely invested, but as soon as the guns 
were brought directly upon it it surrendered. Then 
the work of re-embarkation was pursued without inter- 
ruption. 

Thus the strike at Lisbon ingloriously failed. Nor- 
reys's land movement had been carried to the city's 
gates, but no signs of a Portuguese rising in Dom 
Antonio's favour were seen, and after some skirmish- 
ings in the suburbs, with the destruction of warehouses 
and stores, the force had withdrawn discomfited. 

The fleet lay offshore inactive while the generals and 
captains held repeated councils to determine the next 
move upon which there was difference of opinion rising 
almost to the point of quarrel. In the midst of the 
debate there appeared in the offing a large "Hanseatic" 
fleet — a fleet of German ships — under convoy of sev- 
eral Spanish vessels making for the river. At this 
sight the discussion was abruptly suspended, for all 
responded to Drake's order to weigh and make a dash 
for the oncomers. The escort and a few of the fleet 
escaped to Lisbon: the rest were speedily captured: 
sixty all told. Some were found to be laden with corn 
and contraband of war, others were new and in bal- 
last apparently intended for inclusion in Philip's new 
Armada. All were added to the fleet, and took the 
places of the Dutch ships which had been impressed at 
Plymouth and were now dismissed. These captures 
heartened all hands and when the council reassembled 
all agreed with Drake upon the move for the Azores. 

Hardly were sails set accordingly when one of the 



The Last Voyage 479 

squadron of "victuallers" which were to follow the 
fleet from Plymouth hove in sight. They were joy- 
ously received, but not so the despatches they brought: 
for these were angry letters from the queen about 
Essex, ordering the generals, if he were with them, to 
send him home immediately or suffer her dire dis- 
pleasure. Of course he was sent back and with an 
apology from the generals. So the gallant young no- 
bleman, with his ambition for fame and wealth unful- 
filled, was regretfully lost to the expedition. 

At length the fleet got off, but not yet direct for the 
Azores. Word had come that Captain Crosse with 
the second squadron of victuallers was in search of 
them off Cadiz, so in that direction they must first 
turn to pick him up. But they had made only a little 
way out from the river's mouth when the wind fell off 
and they were held becalmed. While they thus lay 
in some disorder a squadron of twenty galleys came 
out and had brisk little skirmishes with three or four 
of the hulks, one after another. The captain of one 
of the hulks fighting hard stood by her till she was 
burning under him. Another was saved by a brave 
young lieutenant who repeatedly repelled attempts to 
board her. Finally, as the navy ships were being 
towed to the hulks' relief, the galleys scudded off. 
With a return of the wind the voyage was renewed, 
and a day later Crosse's victuallers w^ere met. Then at 
last the fleet bent on the Azores way. But soon again 
the wind became contrary. Thereupon Drake issued 
sailing orders for "alternate courses": whenever the 



480 The Boy's Drake 

wind was northerly the ships were to keep on for the 
Azores, whenever southerly they were to fly for the 
Bayona Islands or Vigo Bay. 

After beating up and down the coast for four or five 
days they encountered a gale which divided them. 
Drake with the larger part held on a southerly wind 
and at length reached Bayona. Fenner, the rear- 
admiral, was with the smaller part comprising twenty- 
five sail, and Drake looked for him here. But none 
of his ships was to be seen. Drake therefore stood out 
again, to westward. In two days he put back happily 
to find Fenner's part arrived. Then he ran up the 
reunited fleet to a point about a mile above Vigo and 
anchored. Next morning a landing of the troops was 
effected under cover of a bombardment, and the town 
attacked on two sides, Drake in person leading on one 
side and Sir Roger Williams on the other. The in- 
trenchments were quickly evacuated and the town fell 
into their hands with scarcely a struggle. Then leav- 
ing a force to burn an adjoining fishing town the in- 
vaders returned to their ships and the officers came 
into council to consider the general situation. 

The forces had been seventeen days at sea since 
their embarkation in the Tagus during which time the 
losses through deaths from sickness and wounds had 
been grave, and with these and previous losses the 
number of "whole" men was startlingly reduced. But 
Drake was not yet ready to acknowledge himself 
beaten. He determined to take twenty of the best 
ships for a flying squadron and make a dash for the 



The Last Voyage 481 

Indies fleet while Norreys should conduct the rest of 
the fleet home. Thereupon Vigo was burned to the 
ground and all made sail for the islands in the mouth 
of the bay where Drake was to organise his flying 
squadron. On the way they were again thrown into 
confusion by a sudden and violent tempest. Sir Ed- 
ward Norreys, Sir John's brother, in the "Foresight," 
was driven back with thirty-three other vessels and 
compelled to anchor, while Drake managed to lead 
the rest clear out to sea. But the next day his follow- 
ing were hopelessly scattered. Two were wrecked; 
Capt. William Fenner, the younger, held toward the 
Madeiras; Captain Crosse with his squadron took the 
same course; John Norreys got back to Bayona and 
joined his brother. Drake beat about with a few con- 
sorts, probably intending to get back to the islands 
with clearing weather. But in the height of the storm 
his own brave ship sprang a desperate leak, and soon, 
in sore straits, he was forced to give up all hopes of 
further work with her and make the best of his way 
home to England. 

With difficulty keeping the "Revenge" afloat, he 
finally reached Plymouth by the end of June in a sink- 
ing condition. Accompanying him were most of the 
queen's ships. Norreys with his vessels got back a 
week later. During the summer other ships came 
straggling home, and by the ist of September there 
had returned in all one hundred and two of the original 
one hundred and thirty sail. Later Fenner and Crosse 
came in with their squadrons bringing plunder taken 



482 The Boy's Drake 

at Porto Santo of the Madeiras. Of the fifteen thou- 
sand competent men that had sailed so confidently in 
mid-April only about six thousand survived or ever 
came back. 

Thus haplessly ended the career of the first English 
Armada formed to rival the crushed Spanish Armada 
and to strike the face blow at Spain. While much had 
been accomplished in checking Philip's assemblage of 
his second Armada the campaign had fallen far short 
of its object and was regarded in England as a dis- 
astrous failure. The investors in the enterprise, too, 
were dissatisfied, for the plunder was comparatively 
small in quantity and value. Had Drake been per- 
mitted to carry out his plan of campaign unhampered 
the result would surely have been different. But this 
was not taken into the account. Drake at last had 
been given the chance he had so long craved, to strike 
the home blow, and had failed. He had been lifted 
above the old leaders of the navy with his revolutionary 
methods, and for his acts there could be no defence but 
success. So the old leaders were called to the front, 
their plans of campaign were substituted for his, and 
he was retired in unmerited disgrace. 

He remained in retirement for the next four years 
while the war went on, now defensive and mainly 
commerce-destroying on the part of the English admi- 
rals. But it was an honourable retirement in which 
he was occupied in various patriotic ways. He per- 
formed occasional sea service, particularly in the au- 
tumn of 1590 when he made a reconnoissance on the 



The Last Voyage 483 

Breton coast where some Spanish troops had landed; 
superintended the erection of new fortifications at 
Plymouth and at Scilly against a threatened new Span- 
ish fleet; and loyally furthered the several expeditions 
that the other admirals sailed. During this period he 
made his home at Buckland Abbey, near Plymouth, 
and was repeatedly employing his energies in the inter- 
est of his beloved city. A most beneficent work was 
his successful introduction of a fresh-water system by 
bringing a stream to the city from a distant river in 
Dartmoor. In 1592-93 he sat in Parliament for 
Plymouth and took a leading hand in public business. 
On every occasion when the question arose he frankly 
recommended the adoption of strong measures against 
Spain on sea and land, on both of which Philip was 
now becoming dangerously powerful. 

Early in 1593 he was once more seen at court, and 
an animating report was spread abroad that he was 
to take the helm again. The defensive and commerce- 
destroying campaign had failed to check Philip's ad- 
vances and the government must return to the leader- 
ship of England's greatest admiral. The report was 
confirmed by a statement in open debate in Parliament 
that the queen had "resolved to send Sir Francis 
Drake to encounter the Spaniards with a great navy." 
This was shortly followed up with the issue of a war- 
rant to Drake and Hawkins in company for a number 
of queen's ships and merchant-men. 

Two years more of inaction, however, were allowed 
to pass before Drake's renewed plan was fully endorsed. 



484 The Boy's Drake 

It included the assembhng of a second English ar- 
mada to be brought against Spain, and an immediate 
expedition to Spanish-America with Panama as the 
objective to cut ofF Philip's financial supplies. At 
length with the opening of 1595 the aggressive policy 
was adopted and all was activity in naval quarters. 
Again Drake was the moving spirit in the large work 
under way, again the popular idol. The campaign of 
the new Armada was postponed till the following year, 
whereupon Drake persuaded the queen to let him 
loose for the Spanish Main and Panama without fur- 
ther delay. So at last his long-cherished design upon 
the scene of his first dazzling exploits that had made 
him the terror of Spain were to be carried out, and 
the break into Spanish-America, which he had opened 
twenty years before, completed. 

In this expedition as in his previous ones were com- 
bined public and private interests. The queen pro- 
vided six naval vessels, and about twenty other ships 
and barks were furnished by individuals. The men- 
of-war were the "Defiance," a new ship patterned 
after the lost *' Revenge," the "Garland," the "Hope," 
the " Buonaventure," the "Foresight," and the "Ad- 
venture." The "Revenge" was made Drake's flag- 
ship, Hawkins had the "Garland," and Drake's brother 
Thomas had the "Adventure." The forces, soldiers 
and sailors, comprised twenty-five hundred men and 
boys. All were volunteers and many more eager to 
enlist under Drake's banner had to be turned away. 
Sir Thomas Baskerville, a brave and skilful soldier- 



The Last Voyage 485 

sailor, was commissioned as colonel-general to com- 
mand the troops and on his staff were two of his 
brothers, Arnold and Nicholas. Young Sir Nicholas 
Clifford was made lieutenant-general. With Drake as 
admiral was Hawkins as vice-admiral. 

The commissions were issued to the two admirals 
the last of January, but it was late August before 
the fleet got off, for the customary vexatious delays 
and the queen's vacillating course repeatedly checked 
the start. Alarms occasioned by threatening Spanish 
movements prompting the queen to order the fleet to 
the defence of the English coast and of Ireland also 
held them back. Finally she was brought to issue the 
sailing orders by a report that reached the admirals 
through a Spanish prize and was hastened by them to 
London — that a great flag-ship of the last year's Amer- 
ican plate-fleet, laden with a vast amount of treasure 
from New Spain, had been so disabled by stress of 
weather that she could not continue with the fleet, and 
now lay disarmed at Porto Rico. With the sailing 
orders came instructions to make first for Porto Rico 
and this tempting bait, then to proceed as originally 
planned to Nombre-de-Dios and Panama. 

So on the 28th of August Drake sailed out of Plym- 
outh on what was to be his last voyage; and with him 
his early patron who had opened his career, also never 
to return. Hawkins was now a venerable man, near- 
ing eighty years, feeble in health though yet strong in 
spirit, depressed over past reverses but hopeful of an 
achievement for his country's honour or glory. Drake 



486 The Boy's Drake 

was in full vigour of mind and body, resolute, sure of 
himself and his judgment, impatient as ever of restraint. 
It was natural that the two should clash upon methods 
of procedure, as they ultimately did, yet each remained 
true to the other to the end. 

On the way out Drake could not resist an attack 
upon the Canaries. The fleet reached the islands a 
month after leaving Plymouth and came to anchor 
before Palma. The attack failed after three days' 
efforts. Meanwhile a captain with a number of sol- 
diers, part of the force that had landed, had been cut 
off and all killed or captured. Then it was learned 
that the Spanish officers had ascertained from their 
prisoners the destination of the fleet and had imme- 
diately despatched a ship to warn the West Indies 
of Drake's coming. At this the fleet hurriedly left, 
Drake hoping to outsail the messenger. 

A month later, the 29th of October, they were ar- 
rived at Guadaloupe — all but two small vessels, the 
"Francis" and the *' Delight," which had fallen behind. 
The very next day, while men were busy setting up 
pinnaces and making the fleet ready for action, several 
approaching Spanish ships were sighted. They were 
five of Philip's new treasure-frigates sent out to bring 
home to Spain the bullion from the dismantled flag- 
ship at Porto Rico. They had fallen in with the 
"Francis" and the "Delight," and had captured the 
former but had missed the latter after chasing her into 
sight of the English anchorage. Now they were seen 
crowding on all sail for Porto Rico to warn the island of 



The Last Voyage 487 

Drake's presence and intent, for their commander had 
learned from his prisoners of the " Francis " all about 
the expedition. Thus the intended surprise of Porto 
Rico was frustrated. 

Drake was for immediately pursuing and engaging 
them. But Hawkins protested: before moving, the 
more cautious old campaigner advised that they should 
finish the work in hand and get the fleet in full condi- 
tion; this done, they could assault the island direct in 
good form and with every prospect of success despite 
the enemy's warning, whereas an engagement off- 
shore in their incomplete state would be hazardous and 
might defeat their ultimate object. With Hawkins 
others agreed, and for once Drake deferred to his war 
council and conceived a more strategic movement later 
to be made. Thereupon the tasks were resumed, and 
after four more days of strenuous labour all were com- 
pleted and they were off again. But not yet direct for 
Porto Rico: only for the neighbouring Virgin Islands 
where they came to anchor. This was Drake's stra- 
tegic movement: to hide the fleet in the recesses of 
these isles out of sight and reach of the Spanish scout- 
boats and so lead the enemy to believe that he had 
changed his plans or had left for other parts, then at 
the opportune moment to pass out in the rear of the 
scout-boats' course. It was a clever scheme and 
cleverly executed. The soldiers were landed and 
drilled by Baskerville and his ofl&cers while Drake in 
his ship's boat sought and discovered a new passage 
out. Then the next day he piloted the whole fleet 



488 The Boy's Drake 

through this passage, and the day following, at day- 
break, they were bearing down upon Porto Rico 
on a faint morning breeze. Thus, though now pre- 
pared for their coming, the place was surprised after 
all. 

At this time Porto Rico was one of the best fortified 
ports of the Indies and, especially to resist the English 
fleet, additional defences had been hastily erected. 
Across the harbour's mouth a temporary barrier had 
been made by the sinking of the dismantled treasure- 
galleon and other vessels and the construction upon 
them of a boom of spars. 

The watching Spaniards first saw the fleet making a 
direct approach. Then as they neared the harbour 
they executed a manoeuvre and, to the astonishment of 
the on-lookers, anchored in a sandy bay to the eastward 
of the town. The eastern batteries, however, quickly 
opened fire upon them, and as the gunners got the range 
the effect grew serious. The "Defiance" received 
some of the deadliest shot. One shot "got home" in 
her mizzen. Another crashed through the main cabin 
where Drake and several of his officers were at supper. 
The stool upon which Drake was sitting was knocked 
from under him, two of the officers closest to him were 
mortally wounded, others more or less hurt. One of 
the two mortally struck was Brute Brown, much 
beloved by Drake, and as he fell the admiral ex- 
claimed: 

"Ah! dear Brute! I would grieve for thee, but now 
is no time for me to let down my spirits." 



The Last Voyage 489 

He indeed could not stop to mourn for his friend for 
the fleet's position had become perilous and another 
and instant manoeuvre was imperative. Signalling to 
move out of range, he now led the fleet to the opposite 
side of the harbour entrance where lay two isles form- 
ing a narrow channel with the main island, and pre- 
pared for an attack from this place. So dangerous 
was the passage and so encumbered with shoals that 
it was not supposed that any stranger would dare at- 
tempt it, and therefore it had not been fortified, as 
Drake's keen eye had observed. 

While this manoeuvre was under-way, on board the 
"Garland" the last rites were performing over the 
body of Hawkins: for the honoured old admiral had 
died. Worn with fatigue and sad-hearted, he had 
fallen gravely ill upon the departure from the Virgin 
Islands and had taken to his bed. He passed away 
as the fleet first came to anchor in the sandy bay for 
action, and was buried in the sea with the honours due 
to a true sailor-soldier. 

The attack was made the following night. Drake's 
intent was to destroy the five treasure-ships, which 
now lay close under the main batteries, before attempt- 
ing the town. As was his custom he had himself first 
reconnoitred the shore to find a suitable place for his 
men to land. The attack was opened at ten o'clock, in 
the dark, with a flotilla of small boats and pinnaces. 
Again the Spaniards were taken by surprise. As the 
frigates were approached fire-balls were thrown from 
the flotilla upon them. One after another flamed up 



490 The Boy's Drake 

lighting the scene with a lurid glow. Coming to- 
gether, English and Spaniards fought hand to hand, 
while the Spanish gunners and musketeers swept the 
flotilla with a rain of shot. At length, when several of 
their boats had been sunk and the rest hurt, the as- 
sailants could withstand the defence no longer and 
withdrew. Thus the attack failed and with grievous 
loss to the EngHsh fleet. 

Still undaunted, Drake immediately prepared for a 
second attempt, made the next day with a movement 
of the fleet to the windward of the port. The intent 
was to run boldly past the ends of the boom across the 
harbour's mouth and make a landing in force. Ac- 
cordingly at four o'clock in the afternoon the fleet 
suddenly tacked and made straight for the entrance. 
Foreseeing Drake's purpose the Spanish commandant, 
Don Pedro Tello de Guzman, hastened to barricade 
the ends of the boom. For this purpose two fine 
merchant-men, his own ship, and another frigate were 
sacrificed, and so hurriedly were the last two sunk that 
their guns went down with them. The end, however, 
justified the means, for the town was saved. With the 
barring of these narrow passages the fleet drew back, 
and the siege was over. Drake fain would have made 
one more attempt and this by land, but the council of 
war advised against the plan as too hazardous under 
the circumstances, and he reluctantly gave it up. 

So Porto Rico with the treasure of the dismantled 
galleon he had come so buoyantly to seize had slipped 
through his hands. 



The Last Voyage 491 

Discomfited and grieving over his losses of friends 
and men, yet not dismayed, he now turned as confi- 
dently tov^ard the chief objects of the expedition — 
Nombre-de-Dios and Panama. Along the way he was 
to swoop down upon and disable each port in succession. 

First, however, before the start could be properly 
made, the fleet must be reorganised, new pinnaces set 
up to replace those lost, and the tired forces refreshed. 
Accordingly he moved the squadron to the west end 
of the island where was a retired anchorage near Cape 
Rejo, and here a week was spent in alternating work 
and rest. Then, the fleet rehabilitated and the force 
revived, sails were set for the Spanish Main. 

The first stop was made before Rio de la Hacha 
on the 1 8th of December. That night troops were 
landed and the place occupied without a shot. What 
treasure was in reach was taken and the next day nego- 
tiations were opened with the governor for the town's 
ransom. At the same time Baskerville with a detach- 
ment of troops ranged the country round about and 
gathered more treasure, while Drake with other troops 
seized the near-by village of Ranchera, where pearl- 
fisheries were carried on, and took a great quantity of 
pearls. The negotiations for a ransom finally failed, 
the governor frankly admitting that he had entertained 
the demand only to gain time to warn the other ports 
of Drake's presence on the coast. Thereupon Drake 
burned the town and sailed away. 

Next, on the 20th, Santa Marta was reached. It 
also was occupied without a shot and the chief officers 



492 The Boy's Drake 

were taken prisoners. Little treasure, however, was 
found here for the officials had received the warning 
from Rio de la Hacha in time to enable them to clear 
the place of its valuables. Therefore the invaders' 
stay was only long enough also to lay this town in 
ashes. Next Cartagena was approached. But Drake 
decided not to stop to attempt this stronghold but to 
hasten on to Nombre-de-Dios in the hope of getting 
there ahead of the warning messengers. Two days 
after Christmas the fleet came to anchor before the 
isthmian port. 

Nombre-de-Dios was as promptly seized as were the 
other ports, but not without a brisk skirmish with the 
garrison, for, though the fleet may have outsailed the 
warning messengers from the Spanish Main, the place 
had been already warned, as was afterward learned 
from Panama. As at Santa Marta scant plunder was 
obtained, since here also ample time had been had to 
remove or hide its wealth. Moreover, since the place 
was about to be abandoned as the Atlantic port of the 
isthmus and to be succeeded by the neighbouring new 
Porto Bello it was now nearly deserted. 

On the second day after the occupation the march 
for Panama by the old Panama road was begun. 
For this a force of seven hundred and fifty picked men, 
the "strongest and lustiest" of the army, were detailed, 
led by Baskerville and the chief mihtary officers. 
Drake remained behind with the fleet, during the 
absence of Baskerville, to reduce the new Porto Bello, 
if conditions were favourable, and probably to send 



The Last Voyage 493 

boats up the Chagres River to meet him at Venta Cruz 
and bring down the Panama plunder. 

For two days after the departure of the land force 
he was busied in firing Nombre-de-Dios together with 
the shipping in the harbour. On the third day he was 
preparing to move nearer to the Chagres River when 
a courier came panting in through the Panama gate 
with the starthng word that Baskerville had been re- 
pulsed by overwhelming Spanish forces and was now 
in full retreat for Nombre-de-Dios. Two days later 
he arrived with the remnant of his gallant force, foot- 
sore, shoeless, and worn. Midway on the exhaustive 
march out they had been confronted in a defile on a 
hill-side with an impenetrable barricade thrown across 
the road strongly defended by Spanish soldiers; and, 
after hot fighting with serious loss and their ammuni- 
tion ruined by rain, they had been forced to turn about 
and make their hard way back as best they could. 

This crushing blow destroyed all hopes of attaining 
Panama and the ultimate aim of the expedition. If it 
were to escape utter ruin a further plan of campaign 
must be speedily devised. It was now clear that Pan- 
ama had been early warned of the invasion. Drake 
therefore now proposed a venture to the "golden 
towns" that clustered about the Lake of Nicaragua, 
or to the rich old port of Truxillo on the Honduras 
coast. Bringing out a map and pointing to the one 
or the other he asked of his council of war which they 
would have. "Both," cried bhthely the intrepid Bas- 
kerville, "one after another, and all too little to con- 



494 The Boy's Drake 

tent us if we took both." So the council resolved; and 
three days after the retreat from the Panama road, or 
on the 5th of Januarj^, sails were once more set and 
all were ojBT for Nicaragua. 

But the wind soon turned contrary, and for four 
days they struggled desperately against it. On the 
9th they found themselves in a "very deep and danger- 
ous bay" — the Mosquito, Gulf; and on the loth, de- 
scrying a small island called Escudo de Veragua, they 
came to anchor under its lee. At this "waste island 
where there was no relief but a few tortoises for such 
as could catch them," they remained twelve miserable 
days. It was considered the "sickliest place in all the 
Indies," and while waiting for the weather to change, 
not in idleness but occupied, by Drake's wise direc- 
tion, in cleaning the ships and other light tasks, many 
fell ill with dysentery and numbers died. At length 
when several of his best officers had been carried off, 
Drake himself was stricken with the disease and 
obliged to keep his cabin. Still the weather continued 
unchanged, and provisions were becoming scarce. 
Then, growing weaker, Drake finally decided to "take 
the wind as God sent it" and gave the order to de- 
part. 

This wind carried them ultimately into the fine 
harbour of Porto Bello, and on the morning of the 28th 
of January, 1596, as the ships here came to anchor, 
Drake breathed his last. 

"The 28 at 4 of the clocke in the morning our Gen- 
erall sir Francis Drake departed this life, havinge bene 




SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 



The Last Voyage 495 

extreamly sicke of the fluxe, which began the night 
before to stop on him. > He used some speeches at or 
a httle before his death, rising and apparelhng himselfe, 
but being brought to bed againe within one houre died. 
He made his brother Thomas Drake and captaine 
Jonas Bodenham executors, and M. Thomas Drake's 
Sonne his heire to all his lands except one manor which 
he gave to captaine Bodenham." 

Such is the brief unembellished record of the great 
admiral's passing, at the scene of the amazing exploits 
that had first brought him fame. 

His comrades buried him in the sea a league out 
from shore. On the decks of his "Defiance," Sir 
Thomas Baskerville leading, the solemn burial service 
was read, and "M. Bride made a sermon having to his 
audience all the Captaines of the fleete"; then the 
leaden coffin was borne out under the escort of the 
fleet and given to the waters while the trumpets and 
the guns sounded the lament. As a last honour to 
the dead two vessels of his fleet and all his last taken 
prizes were sunk beside his tomb. 

Baskerville by virtue of his commission now took 
command of the fleet with the "Garland" as his flag- 
ship; Thomas Drake was named vice-admiral, and 
Bodenham captain of the "Defiance." All were im- 
patient to make for home in the speediest manner possi- 
ble. Baskerville would have the fleet hold together 
till at least they were fairly on the Atlantic, and by 
his resolute will this was accomphshed, except that a 



49^ The Boy's Drake 

few of the ships parted company with the rest during a 
storm. Off the Isle of Pines, south of the west end of 
Cuba, the enemy were encountered and a sea fight 
ensued which the Enghsh finally won and then passed 
on. The enemy comprised a fleet of twenty sail, part 
of a squadron of sixty ships sent out to intercept 
Drake, that had rendezvoused at Cartagena: but that 
did not clear that port for the chase till after the Span- 
ish commander had heard of Drake's death. At length 
Baskerville reached England with the remnants of the 
expedition at the beginning of May. 

Shortly before, the new English Armada that Drake 
had planned had sailed for Spain to fight the cam- 
paign on the lines of naval warfare which he had so 
repeatedly traced, and which at last was fatal to the 
Spanish power at sea. '' The sailing of this fleet, which 
Drake should have Hved to command, as Corbett says 
truly, marked the triumph of his ideas. "His school 
was founded. Everyone from Howard down was now 
of his party; and though he did not five to know it 
yet even as he passed away distraught with failure, 
England was fairly launched upon the course which 
brought her the empire of the sea." 

All, too, were singing his praises. Testimonials of 
his services and character, in prose and verse, ap- 
peared in profusion from his English contemporaries. 
Again he became the hero of romance and ballad. 
Only the Spaniards decried him, as was natural. To 
them he was the evil spirit incarnate, and they rejoiced 
at his death as of a "curse removed." To the un- 



The Last Voyage 497 

learned English people he was held as more than 
human, endowed with supernatural gifts. 

Drake's name in history is written large. He stands 
as the greatest navigator of his day. "He was more 
skillfull in all poyntes in navigation than any that ever 
was before his time, in his time, or since his death." 
So wrote his contemporary the London annalist Stow. 
He stands the greatest sailor of the awakening Eliza- 
bethan age. "His voyage around the world was the 
epitome of his career: the conception and the carrying 
it through in the face of all difficulties and dangers 
mark the genius, the courage, the prudence and the 
self-reliance which distinguished him in higher com- 
mand," writes John Knox Laughlin, the modern naval 
historian. Lastly he stands the greatest admiral of his 
time, father of the first real English navy. 

He had his shortcomings. "In his imperfections," 
says the frank Stow, "he was ambitious for honour, 
unconstant in amity, greatly affected to popularity." 
Against these may be set off his virtues as enumerated 
by that other honest contemporary Thomas Fuller: 
"Chaste in his hfe; just in his dealings; true to his 
word; merciful to those that were under him; hating 
nothinge so much as idlenesse; — alwayes contemning 
danger and refusing no toyl; — wont himselfe to be one 
(whoever was the second) at every turne where courage, 
skill, or Industrie was to be employed." 



INDEX 



"Adventure," British man-of-war, 
484. 

African slave-trade, 18, 19. 

Allen, Richard, 124, 125. 

"Angel," ship, 21; sunk by the 
Spanish, 40. 

Anthony, Nicholas, master of the 
"Marigold," 196. 

Anton, San Juan de, 296, 297, 301. 

Arica, 288. 

"Ark Royal," Howard's flag-ship, 
436, 452; celebration on the, 459. 

Armada, first English, 473; exploits 
of, 474-482; second, 484, 496. 

"Armada, the Invincible," planned, 
401, 430, 433; description of , 437, 
438; off the Lizard, 444; battle 
of Plymouth, 448-451; battle off 
the Isle of Wight, 459; battle off 
Portland, 455, 457; battle of 
Gravelines, 463-468; dispersed, 
468-470. 



B 



Balboa, 138. 

"Bark Benjamin," 368. 

"Bark Bonner," 368, 398. 

Barrett, Robert, master of the 

"Jesus," 37. 
Baskerville, Arnold, 485; Nicholas, 

485; Sir Thomas, 484, 487, 492, 

493, 496- 
"Bay of Severing of Friends," 269. 
Bayona, first attack on, 369-373; 

second, 480. 
"Bear," pinnace, 161, 163, 168. 
Beeston, veteran navy officer, 459. 
Bellingham, Henry, captain of the 

"Rainbow," 403. 



"Benedict," pinnace, 196, 198. 

Biggs, Captain Walter, 368, 373, 381. 

Bland, captain of the "Grace of 
God," 23, 25, 40. 

Bodenham, Captain Jonas, 495. 

Borough, Vice-Admiral William, 
403; disapproval of Drake's course, 
406, 407, 409; protest of, 414; 
charges against, 415, 424, 429. 

Brazil, 209, 213; landfall at, 218. 

Brewer, John, trumpeter, 233, 244, 
267, 277, 359; Tom, sailor, 276. 

"Brief Relation," the, quoted, 412, 
418. 

Bright, Edward, 241, 243, 257, 267. 

Brown, Brute, officer with IDrake, 
488. 

Buckland Abbey, 483. 

"Bulls of Partition," 15, 16. 

"Buonaventure," British man-of- 
war, 484. 



Cabezas, 161, 168, 180. 
"Cacafuego," the, treasure-ship 

seized by Drake, 293-299. 
Cadiz, surprise of, 407-410. 
Calais, 460, 466. 
Callao, 289, 290. 
Camden, William, antiquary and 

historian, 6, 12, 183, 448. 
Cape Blanco, 206, 207. 
Cape Finisterre, 405. 
Cape of Good Hope, 301, 333, 356. 
Cape Horn, 271, 272. 
Cape Mendocino, 315. 
Cape Pillar, 264. 
Cape San Francisco, 294, 304. 
Cape St. Vincent, taking of, 414-420, 

422. 
Cape San Antonio, 392. 



499 



500 



Index 



Cape Verde Islands, 209, 217, 269, 

373- 
Cape Virgins, 258. 
"Captaine of Moriall," Spanish 

treasure-ship, 282-284. 
Careless, Captain Edward, of the 

"Hope," 368. 
Carleill, Lieutenant-General, 368, 

369, 372, 377, 378, 384, 393> 

394- 
Cartagena, 28, 66, 83; description 

of, 86, 87; no, 367; attacked, 

383-388. 
Cascaes Castle, 419. 
Cates, Lietuenant, narrative of, 

368. 
Catives, the, 64, 104, 107, 124, 

164. 
Cecil, William (Lord Burghley), 46, 

194, 241, 399, 429. 
Celebes, 347, 352. 
Chagres River, 50, 52, 84, 85, 

493- 
Chamberlayne, John, 38. 
Chester, Captain John, of the 

"Swan," 196, 226. 
"Christopher," ship, 196, 198, 207, 

219, 221, 223, 224, 230. 
Cimaroons, a warlike nation, 62, 

63, 74, 83; Drake's alliance with, 

102-105; 127, 128, 130-137, 160, 

168; their reward, 180, 181. 
Cliffe, Edward, narrative of, 268, 

269. 
Clifford, Sir Nicholas, 485. 
Cluich, Robert, 124. 
Coligny, Admiral, 165, 166. 
"Cooke's Narrative," 200, 210, 216, 

239- 
Corbett, naval historian, references 

to, 17, 44, 47, 50, 187, 188, 215, 

238, 259, 270, 282, 297, 303, 334, 

371, 383. 433> 448, 456, 462, 

496. 
Coruna, 439, 442, 475. 
Crosse, Captain, 479, 481. 
Crowndale, birthplace of Francis 

Drake, 8, 9. 
Cuba, 19, 391. 
Curasao, 25, 51, 121. 
Cuttill, Thomas, master of the 

"Pelican," 196. 



D 



Davis, Captain John, discoverer of 
Davis Strait, 7. 

"Defiance," English man-of-war, 
484, 488, 495- 

" Delight," ship in Drake's last voy- 
age, 486. 

Diego, negro in Drake's service, 74, 
83, 96, 102; death of, 278. 

Dominica, 25, 58, 374. 

Double, Robert, 168. 

Doughty, John, 222; Thomas, in 
Drake's confidence, 192, 193, 197; 
in charge of a captured ship, 209; 
charges preferred against, 210- 
212; his "oration" on the "Peli- 
can," 215; removed from office, 
217; 223; imprisoned, 226; on 
board the "Elizabeth," 230, 231; 
trial and execution of, 237- 
249. 

"Dragon," ship, in Drake's first 
fleet to the Spanish-American 
coast, 49. 

Drake, Edmund, sailor, 9; lay 
preacher, persecuted by the Cath- 
olics, 10, 11; fled to Kent, 11; 
life at Upchurch, 12, 13; Sir 
Francis, character and undertak- 
ings, 3-5; parentage and birth- 
place, 6-13; apprenticed to a 
skipper, 14; voyage to the Biscay 
coast, 16; to Guinea and the West 
Indies, 16, 17; enmity to Spain, 
17, 22; commander of the "Ju- 
dith," 22; of the "Grace of God," 
23; in battle at San Juan d'Ulloa, 
40-73; in the navy, 47, 48; married 
Mary Newman, 48; planned cam- 
paign against Spanish-America, 
48-50; at Nombre-de-Dios, 50- 
53; raid on Nombre-de-Dios, 54- 
75; wounded, 76, 77; made allies 
of the Cimaroons, 102, 103; built 
Fort Diego, 106; attack on Car- 
tagena, 108-117; expedition to 
capture a treasure train, 129; 
first view of the Pacific, 137; 
seized a treasure train, 168-172; 
return to Plymouth with plunder, 
183; shipping captured by Drake, 



Index 



501 



183, 184; his treatment of prison- 
ers, 184; the English Government 
embarrassed by, 185; his retreat 
to Ireland, 186; joined the Earl 
of Essex in subduing Ulster, 188- 
190; planned to circumnavigate 
the globe, 192; Queen Elizabeth's 
sanction of his plan, 193, 194; 
sailed with a fleet of five ships, 
195, 196; his troubles with 
Doughty, 212, 215, 217; disap- 
pearance of the "Mary" and the 
"Swan," 224; at Port Desire, 
227-229; is joined by the "Mary," 
232; encounter with Patagonians, 
233-236; trial and execution of 
Doughty, 237-249; dissensions of 
his company allayed, 249-255; left 
Port St. Julien for the Magellan's 
Straits, 257; the "Pelican" re- 
christened the "Golden Hind," 
259; claimed islands for the 
queen, 261; navigated Magellan's 
Straits, 264; his ship separated 
from the fleet, 266; anchored at 
"Mucho," 275; attacked by na- 
tives, 276-278; sailed to Val- 
paraiso, 282-284; at Salado Bay, 
285, 286; plunder of a silver train, 
287; looted ships in Arica har- 
bor, 288; seized silver plate and 
merchandise at Callao, 290; the 
" Cacafuego " captured, 293-299; 
captured a Spanish frigate and 
a merchant-ship, 305-308; an- 
chored off the Californian coast, 
316; visited by the Indians, 317- 
321; homage of the Indian king, 
322-327; on friendly terms with 
the Indians, 328-329; claimed 
country for Elizabeth, 329; sailed 
west for sixty-eight days, 334; ar- 
rival at the Pelews, 334-336; at 
Spice Islands, 337; received by the 
sultan of Ternate, 338-345; sul- 
tan made treaty with, 339; peril 
of the "Golden Hind," 347; an- 
chored at Java, 355, 356; arrived 
at Plymouth, 357; received by the 
queen, 360; knighted on board 
the "Golden Hind," 363; rose as 
military leader, statesman, and ad- 



miral, 364; mayor of Plymouth, 
365; married Mary Sydenham, 
365; sailed with a fleet to Spain, 
366; object of the expedition, 367; 
his squadron 367, 368; conquered 
Bayona, 369-373; burned Santia- 
go and Porta Pray a, 374; pro- 
ceeded against Santo Domingo, 
375-382; Cartagena taken, 383- 
388; St. Augustine entered, 396; 
the "Raleigh Colony" reheved 
by, 396, 397; return to England 
and success of the expedition, 
398, 399; mission to the United 
Netherlands, 401; commanded a 
squadron against Spain, 402-405; 
burned shipping at Cadiz, 406- 
412; St. Vincent surrendered to, 
417, 418; capture of the "San 
Felipe," 426; the queen's dis- 
pleasure at, 428; in battle with 
the Spanish Armada, 430, 435, 

437, 444, 452-454, 455, 459, 461, 
465, 468, 470; in battle at Coruna, 
475, 476; his retirement, 482, 483; 
in Parliament, 483; the queen 
again enlisted his services, 483; 
his new fleet, 484; burned Rio de 
la Hacha, 491; death and burial 
of, 494, 495; Sir Francis, Drake's 
nephew, 200; published The 
World Encompassed, 201, 202; 
John, captain of the "Swan," 57, 
70, 84; negotiations with the 
Cimaroons, 102, 103; death of, 
124; John, a page, 198, 294, 295, 
334, Zf'Z', Joseph, 57; death of, 
126; Thomas, 211, 233, 368; com- 
mander of the " Adventure," 484; 
Simon, 8. 

Drake and the Tudor Navy, 17. 

Drake's Harbor, 316, 333. 

"Drake's Pool," 186, 187, 360. 

"Dreadnought," English naval ves- 
sel, 403. 

Dom Antonio, the Portuguese Pre- 
tender, 472, 477, 478. 



East India Company of London 
merchants, 272, 426. 



502 



Index 



"Eion," pinnace, 62, 124. 

Elizabeth, Queen, her accession, 12; 
revival of commerce under, 15, 
16; excommunication, 55; govern- 
ment of, 185; changes in policy, 
193; 255; California claimed for, 
329, 330; criticism of Drake, 
428; Drake restored to favor, 

430- 
"Elizabeth," ship of Drake's fleet for 

the voyage round the world, 196, 

223, 257; separated from fleet, 

267, 268. 
"Elizabethides," the, 272, 273. 
" Elizabeth Bonaventure," Drake's 

flag-ship, 368, 403. 
Enriques, Don Martin, viceroy of 

Mexico, 33; Drake's message to, 

298. 305, 307- 

"Enterprise of England," 366. 

Essex, Earl of, 188; his Irish cam- 
paign, 189, 191; 193, 244, 474, 
477. 479- 



"Falcon," frigate, in [Essex's cam- 
paign, 189. 

Fenner, Thomas, captain of the 
"Dreadnought," 403; Captain 
William, 481. 

Flanders, 187, 428, 433. 

Fleming, Captain, 444. 

Fletcher, Master Francis, chaplain, 
notes of, 201, 216, 247, 272, 276, 

351. 352. 
Flood, Tom, sailor, 276. 
Florida, 392. 

Fogo, the "burning island," 209. 
"Foresight," British man-of-war, 

484. 
Fort Diego, 106, 125, 130, 157, 168, 

176. 
Fortesque, George, 198, 368. 
"Francis," ship, in Drake's fleet, 

368, 371, 398; ship, in Drake's 

last voyage, 486. 
Frobisher, Sir Martin, 368, 375, 433, 

436, 45°; knighted, 459. 
Frye, John, sailor, 204-206. 
Fuller, Thomas, his characteriza- 
tion of Drake, 497. 



Galiot "Duck," 368, 371. 

"Galleon Leicester," 368. 

"Garland," English man-of-war, 
484, 489. 

Garrett, Captain John, 55, 59, 60. 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 7. 

Glub, Charles, mariner, 122. 

"Golden Hind" (first called the 
"Pelican"), Drake's flag-ship in 
his voyage round the world, 273, 
275, 286, 292; "ballasted with 
silver," 299, 307, 312; departure 
of, from California, 330; on a 
reef, 347-349; exhibited in the 
Thames, 362; visited by the 
queen, 363. 

"Golden Lion," English navy ship, 
403, 414, 415; mutiny of, 424. 

"Grace of God," Portuguese ship 
captured in the Hawkins expedi- 
tion, 23; fired, 40. 

Gravelines, battle of, 463. 

Grenville, Sir Richard, 7, 397. 

Griego, John, pilot, 283. 

Gulf of Darien, 51, 58, 97. 

Gulf of Mexico, 3, 29. 

Guzman, Don Pedro Tello de, Span- 
ish commandant, 499. 



H 



Hakluyt, Richard, referred to, 9, 
67 ; his Principal Navigations, 80, 
198, 272, 368. 

Hatton, Sir Christopher, 192; his 
influence for Drake, 193; 244, 254; 
the "Golden Hind" named in his 
honor, 259, 359. 

Hawkins, Sir John, 7, 9; engaged 
in slave- trading, 18-^22; expedi- 
tion of 1567, 20-22; his fleet, 22; 
battle at San Juan d'Ulloa, 37-45; 
254; made rear-admiral, 436, 450, 
455; knighted, 459; commanded 
the "Garland," 484; death, 489; 
Sir Richard, author of '''Observa- 
tions," 271, 272; Captain Will- 
iam; mayor of Plymouth, 9, 10; 
William, John's brother, 7, 9, 46, 
47> 50. 432- 



Index 



503 



Hixom, Captain Ellis, 84, 85, 121, 
126, 130, 155. 

Hood, Thomas, 233. 

Horsey, Sir Edward, 55. 

Howard, Lord Charles, commander- 
in-chief of the British navy, 430; 
defence against the Armada, 435, 

436, 437> 441, 450. 452, 455-457. 
459, 463, 466, 496; Lord Thomas, 
commander of the " Golden Lion," 
459. 460. 



"Islands of Saint James," the 

Farallones, zt,T). 
Isle of Bastimentas, 80, 85. 
Isle of Wight, 55, 451; battle ofif, 

459- 
Isthmus of Darien, 50. 
Isthmus of Panama, 4. 



Jamaica, 19, 51. 

Java, 355. 

"Jesus of Lubec," flag-ship of the 
Hawkins expedition, 22, 36; at- 
tacked at San Juan d'Ulloa, 40. 

"Judith," bark, commanded by 
Drake, 21, 22; in battle at San 
Juan d'Ulloa, 40; reaches Eng- 
land, 43. 

K 

Knollys, Rear-Admieal,, 368. 
King of Navarre, r66, 432. 



Lagos, 415-418, 421. 

Lane, Ralph, governor of the 

Raleigh colony, 397, 398. 
Laughlin, John Knox, quoted, 497. 
Leicester, Earl of, 191, 401. 
Leng, Robert, fellow-soldier of 

Drake, quoted, 410, 416, 420, 

427. 
Leyva, Martinez de, of the Armada, 

449. 455. 456, 47°- 
Lima, 283, 289. 



Lisbon, 420, 439, 478. 
Lovell, Captain John, 17, 22. 
Luxan, Don Francisco de, 33; 

treachery of, 38. 
"Lyon," pinnace, 62, 127; sunk, 

168. 

M 

Magdalena River, 96, 118, 178. 

Magellan, 213, 231, 271. 

Manrique, Don Pedro Vique, gen- 
eral of the coast of the Spanish 
Main, 384. 

Marchant, John, sergeant-major, 
403, 415, 424. 

"Maria Juan," Spanish war-ship, 
466. 

"Marigold," bark, in Drake's Pa- 
cific voyage, 196, 252, 267. 

"Mary," Portuguese ship captured 
by Drake, 224, 231, 232, 256. 

"Master Thief of the Unknown 
World, The," 4, 362. 

Medway, 12; vicarage at, 12. 

Mendoza, Don Bernardin de, 359, 
360, 361, 362, 363. 

Menendez, Pedro, Captain-General 
of the West India trade, 29, 
188. 

"Merchant Adventurers," 15, 301. 

"Merchant Royal," ship, 408, 409. 

Mexico, 3, 30, 33, 51, 52. 

Mining, Richard, sailor, 285. 

"Minion," ship in Hawkins's ex- 
pedition, 21, 36, 39, 42, 43; pin- 
nace, 62, 123. 

Mocha, "Mucho," 275, 279. 

Mogadar, 203, 204. 

Moluccas, the, 301, t,^^,, 337. 

Moncada, 455, 463. 

Montgomery, Gabriel, 165, 166. 

Moone, Thomas, ship's carpenter, 
51,92; captain of the "Benedict," 
196; boards a treasure-ship, 282; 
312; commander of the "Fran- 
cis," 368; death of, 388. 

Morgan, Captain, 385, 393. 

Motley, his description of Drake, 
401, 402. 

Muscovy Company {see Merchant 
Adventures), 301, 426. 



504 



Index 



N 



"New Albion," Drake claims dis- 
covery of, 330. 

Nombre-de-Dios, treasure-house of 
Spain, 3, 50, 51; description of , 65- 
67; captured by Drake, 77; 140, 
367; second attack on, 492, 493. 

Norreys, Sir Edward, 481. Sir 
John, in Ireland, 190, 471; at 
Coruna, 475-481. 

Nueva, de Villa, Don Augustine, 
31, 32; treachery of, 38. 

Nueva Reyna, 97, 100. 



O 



Oliver, master-gunner, 233-236. 
"Our Frigate," ship captured by 

John Oxenham, 164. 
Oxenham, John (Oxnam), vi^ith 

Drake, 70, 74, 113, 137, 143, 161; 

captured a Spanish frigate, 164; 

167, 176; death of, 199. 



Pacific Ocean, 4; Drake's first 
sight of, 136-137; 192, 195, 359. 

Palmer, Sir Henry, 461. 

Panama, 3, 51, 66; city of, 139; 
treasure train from, 84, 141-147, 
192, 286, 367, 484, 492, 493. 

Parma, Duke of, 428, 433, 435, 437, 

445> 469- 
"Pascha," Drake's ship, in raid on 

Nombre-de-Dios, 56, 91, 104, 

161, 176. 
Pedro, a Cimaroon chief, 136, 144, 

149, 180. 
Pelews, off the, 334-336. 
"Pelican" {see "Goldei Hind"), 

Drake's flag-ship, 196, 214, 216, 

222, 257; renamed, 259, 267. 
Peru, 3, 51, 52, 141, 364. 
Philip, King of Spain, 12, 47; 

his anger against Drake, 185; 

402, 

412, 430. 439. 483- 
Pike, Robert, 144, 145, 146. 
Pimental, Don Diego, 464. 
Pine Islands, 62, 64, 85, 496. 



Piatt, Captain Anthony, 403. 
Plymouth, 9, 11; boyhood of Drake 

at, 12, 50, 357; Drake mayor of, 

365; 447; "battle of," 449-451; 

472, 481, 483- 
Point Desire, 225; Drake's stay 

here, 226. 
Point Reyes Head, 316. 
Port of Health, 268. 
"Port Pheasant," 52, 58. 
"Port Plenty," 95, loi. 
Port St. Julien, 232; the tragedy at, 

237-249- 

Porta Praya, 374. 

Porto Bello, 492, 494. 

Porto Rico, 19; attack on, 488, 
492. 

Porto Santo, 482. 

Portugal, her claims to the New 
World, 15, 16. 

Povvrell, Sergeant-Major, 385. 

Pretty, Francis, his narrative of 
Drake's circumnavigation, 200, 
201, 238, 282. 

"Primrose," an English merchant- 
ship, 364, 367; log of, 368. 



R 



"Rainbow," English navy ship, 

403, 425- 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 7, 8; colony of, 
396-398; 436. 

"Rata," Spanish war-ship, 449. 

Recalde, Don Juan de, 413; vice- 
admiral of the Armada, 438, 449, 
456, 466, 470. 

"Regazona," ship of the Spanish 
Armada, 455. 

Reprisals, 47, 186; letters of, 366. 

"Revenge," Drake's ship, in the 
fight with the Armada, 437, 452, 
453 > 4^3) 465; man-of-war in 
second English Armada, 484. 

Rio de la Hacha, 17, 22; taken by 
the English, 22-28; 87, 367. 

Rio Diego, 104. 

Rio Francisco, 168, 172, 176, 177, 
178. 

Rouse, Captain James, 55, 61, 85. 

Russell, Sir Francis, godfather of 
Francis Drake, 9. 



Index 



505 



St. Augustine sacked, 393-396. 

St. Julian's Castle, 419. 

Sacrifice Island, 42. 

Salado Bay, 285, 286. 

Sampson, Captain, 369, 370, 371, 
374, 384, 385, 393. 

San Barnardo Islands, 91, 108, 123. 

"San Felipe," prize-ship taken by 
Drake, 425-427; Spanish war- 
ship, 464, 465; captured, 466. 

"San Juan," battle-ship of the 
Spanish Armada, 449. 

San Juan d'Ulloa, 29, 30; battle at, 
37-41; 47, 395. 

"San Martin," flag-ship of the Ar- 
mada, 449, 456, 463, 465, 468. 

"San Mateo," Spanish war-ship, 
450, 464, 465; captured, 466. 

"San Salvador," Spanish war-ship, 
450; capture of, 454. 

Santa Cruz, Captain-General of the 
Galleys of Spain, 366, 409, 412, 

4i9> 433- 
Santa Gadea, Count of, 421. 
Santa Marta, 491. 
Santiago, attack on, 373; burned, 

374- 

Santo Domingo, 367, 375; Drake 
exacted ransom from, 382. 

Sarmiento, 297, 303, 304. 

Sarriold, John, master of the 
"Swan," 196, 226. 

Schouten, a Dutch navigator, 272. 

Scilly Islands, 182, 187, 427, 437, 
442. 

Seymour, Lord Henry, commanded 
a squadron against the Armada, 
437. 446, 460. 

Sheffield, Lord, 460. 

Sidney, Sir Philip, 369. 

Sidonia, Duke of Medina, command- 
er of the Armada, 438, 439, 442, 
445, 448-451, 455-457, 462-464, 
467, 470- 

Silva, da, pilot, 212, 213, 219, 294, 
312. 

Spain, her monopoly of the "ocean- 
sea," 15, 16; 55, 185, 187, 359; 
her embargo on English ships, 
366. 



Spanish-America, 3, 17, 19, 30, 48, 

49, 185, 471, 484. 
Spanish Main, the, 3, 17, 28, 51, 

183, 367, 492. 
Stow, John, the London antiquary, 

Annalesoi, 7, 189, 497. 
"Straits of Anian," 303, 315. 
Straits of Magellan, 192, 195, 301, 

304- 

Strozzi, Leon, 166. 

"Swallow," ship in the Hawkins ex- 
pedition, 21, 40. 

"Swan," ship used by Drake in 
early voyages, 49, 51, 52, 56; 
scuttled, 91-94; fly-boat, 196; 
222, 224, 225. 

"Swiftsure," navy ship, 474, 476. 



Tavistock, 8, 11, 361. 

Tavy, the river, 8, 48, 361. 

Ternate, 337, 426. 

Tetu, Captain, his meeting with 

Drake, 165; joined Drake's forces, 

166, 167; wounded, 170, 171; 

taken by the Spanish, 177. 
Thomas, John, captain, rescued 

Drake, 224, 233, 238; lost with 

the " Marigold," 267. 
"Thomas Drake," ship in Drake's 

third fleet, 368, 371. 
"Tiger," ship in Drake's fleet, 368. 
Toledo, Don Francisco de, viceroy 

of Peru, 292. Don Luis de, 304. 
Treasure trains, 129, 140, 141, 170, 

171. 
Tremayne, Edmund, 360, 364. 



U 



UBALomo, Petruccio, Florentine 

historian, 436, 465. 
Upchurch, 12. 
Ushant, 442, 443, 474. 



Valdes, Don Diego de, captain of 
the Armada, 438; his squadron, 

445, 449- 
Valparaiso, 281; sacking of, 283. 



5o6 



Index 



Venta Cruz, 52, 84, 140, 144; taken 
by Drake, 152-154; 493. 

Vera Cruz, 29, 31, 36, 38. 

Veragua, 159, 162. 

Vicary, Leonard, a "crafty law- 
yer," 198, 214, 242. 

Vigo burned, 371; 480, 481. 



W 



Walsingham, Sir Francis, 192; 

furthered Drake's plans, 193; 244, 

359> 422, 432. 
West Indies, 3, 18, 25, 57, 67, 

367- 
" White Bear," ship, in fight with the 
Spanish Armada, 460. 



"William and John," ship owned 
by the Hawkins brothers, 21. 

Williams, Sir Roger, commander 
of the "Swiftsure," 474, 480. 

Winter, Robert, with Drake, 233- 
236. 

Wynter, Captain John, 196, 208, 
246, 268, 298; Sir William, 54, 
248, 254; fought with the Spanish 
Armada, 460. 



Zarate, Don Francisco de, 306- 
308; his description of Drake, 

309, 310- 
Zeeland, 14, 466. 



The Boy's Hakluyt 

ticvr Edition of English Voyages of Adventure and 
Discovery 



By E. M. Bacon 

Illustrated. $i.^o net 

"There is more adventure in this volume than 
will be found in a whole library of fiction." 

— New York Sun. 

"Here in one stout volume is the rich account 
of real pirates, and galleons that actually swam 
the seas, and adventurers who genuinely swigged 
and swaggered, suffered and sang." — Chicago Post 

" Nothing in fictitious tales of an olden time can 
surpass the reality; and Hawkins, Drake, and Gil- 
bert are heroes with whose careers every boy should 
be familiar." — Providence Journal. 

" The story of these voyages of adventure is a 
story of pluck, daring, courage, and genuine hero- 
ism."—^/. Paul Dispatch. 

" Thrilling tales of adventure. The book is ad- 
mirably illustrated." — The Outlook. 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



The Boy's Catlin 

My Life Amon(f the Indians 

By George Catlin 

Edited and snaatfed for boys, with Biographical Introduction, by 
Mary Gay Humphreys 

fVitA lb illustrations from Catlings drawings 

$i.SO net 

The most interesting parts of Catlin's famous book 
about the North American Indians and their history 
and habits and customs in war, peace, and hunting, 
arranged for boys and superbly illustrated from 
reproductions of the author's drawings. George 
Catlin, the Indian painter, lived among the Indians 
and studied them at close range, and his story of 
the dangers and hardships of the war-path, the 
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they were at peace with their neighbors, and the 
illustrations cannot fail to interest the American 
boy who is fond of healthy out-door sports and 
adventures. The book is edited and arranged for 
boys by Mary Gay Humphreys. 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



First Across the Continent 

A concise story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 

By Noah Brooks 

Illustrated. $1.30 net 

"For any one who has an interest in travel, in 
adventure, and in the hardihood of the pioneer this 
is a great story." — Baltimore Herald. 

" Probably no incident in the Winning of the 
West exceeds or even equals in romantic interest 
that pioneer joiurney across the continent by Lewis 
and Clark." — The Churchman. 

" It is concise, comprehensive, and readable, and 
will be useful to young and old alike. The book is 
illustrated by reproductions of drawings from Cat- 
lin, Schoolcraft, and other early observers. Ernest 
Thompson Seton contributes four animal draw- 
ings." — St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 

" More readable than a romance, full of hair- 
breadth escapes and imminent perils from savage 
man and beast, by storm and flood, by sickness and 
cold and starvation." — Chicago Post. 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



The Boyd's King Arthur 

Being Sir Thomas Mallory's History of King Arthur 
and His Knights of the Round Table 

Edited by Sidney Lanier 

Illustra ted. $2. 00 
"Unconsciously as he reads of the brave deeds, the 
boy's heart is thrilled and his higher nature throbs with 
knightly longings." — Philadelphia Times. 

The Boy'*s Percy 

Edited by Sidney Lanier 

Illustrated. $2.00 
" He who walks in the way these following ballads point 
will be manful in necessary fight, fair in trade, loyal in 
love, tender in the household, plain in speech, simple in 
behavior, and honest in all things." 

— From Mr. Lanier's Introduction. 

The Boy'^s Froissart 

Being Sir John Froissart's Chronicles of Adventure, 
Battle, and Custom in England, France, Spain, etc. 

Edited by Sidney Lanier 

Illustrated. $2.00 
"It is quite the beau ideal of a book for a present to 
an intelligent boy or girl." — Baltimore Gazette. 

The Knightly Legends of 
Wales 

Or the Boy's Mabinogion 

Edited by Sidney Lanier 

Illustrated. $2.00 
"Amid all the strange and fanciful scenery of these 
stories, character and the ideals of character remain at 
the simplest and purest." — The Independent. 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
ucr \'^ 1910 



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